Meet the Central Office

DREAM's Central Office initiates and supports DREAM programs throughout Vermont. The Central Office also supports the Local Programs in a variety of ways that include providing liability insurance, screening and training new mentors, facilitating summer programming, forming strategic partnerships with other organizations, and making various resources available for parents, children, and mentors. The Central Office is also home to the Camp staff who oversee the Camp property in Fletcher and the programs offered throughout the year to children and mentors at Camp.

On this page, you can find biographies, current work projects, and areas of interest for each of the 18 DREAM Staff. You can also click on our name to email us. If you have questions about a staff member's work or if you'd like to see additional information here, let us know!

Starting August 2007 the DREAM Central Office has doubled in size! That's right, our staff jumped from 9 members to 18 members. It is an amazing and exciting change!

Central Office Staff

• Kristin Burdge, Programs Liaison
  

  Current Projects:
  Adventure Training/Planning with a purpose: for High Adventure and a CIT year-round Program
  Vermont's Family Resources and Policies: Completing the picture of how these relate and work
  Local Program Support (Primarily Franklin Square, and also NWHD and Armory)
  Meeting the need of DREAM's Teens: Fridays, extra Adventures, College/Career & beyond
  Staff Development, Support, Training, & Hiring

  Areas of Interest:
  Connections to DREAM children's Schools
  Mentor Training: Child Behavior Management, Conflict Mediation, Mentor
  Recognition, Recruitment, New Mentor Training!
  DREAM's Theory Of Change and Core Values
  D-Unit!: Hiring, Training, and Support!
  DREAM Expansion
  
  

  Kristin graduated as an English major modified with psychology from Dartmouth College in 2004, with Elementary Teaching Certification. She discovered DREAM during her sophomore year there and has been trapped by its contagious energy ever since: Kristin founded baby DREAM, was a mentor in both the Templeton Court and Armory Square programs, chaired the Armory Square program for two terms, and co-directed the "2007" massive DREAM recruitment push. At Dartmouth she also was a Book Buddy for a young boy with dyslexia for two years, acted as the Philanthropy Chair for Sigma Delta sorority one year, and frequently volunteered for the Red Cross Blood Drive. Kristin spent the last year, 2004-2005, teaching English as a Second Language at the Elementary School on Kili Island in the Marshall Islands. After one term in the Marshalls during her junior year of college, Kristin could not resist the offer to return and enjoyed serving as Assistant and Acting Principal during her past year there. Though she has many fond memories of the community there, DREAM drew Kristin back to the States, where she now fills an Americorps*VISTA position as one of the new Programs Liaisons and dreams of spreading DREAM to the Marshall Islands.
  
• Jen Lazar, Resource Development Director
  

  Current Projects:
  2007 Camp Evaluations
  DREAM Staff Development
  General Organizational Evaluations
  DREAM Service Trip to New Orleans

  Areas Of Interest:
  Planning Adventures
  Fundraising ($1000+ fundraisers)
  DREAMing Big
  

  
  Jen Lazar is a 2004 graduate from Williams College where she completed a contract major in Political Arts. She spent her last year at school writing curriculum for a theatre workshop in Dialogics for teenagers, and initiating an interactive postcard project engaging the community of Williamstown, MA. Interested in education, she has looked at it from a variety of different angles over the past five years designing summer theatre programming for youth (1999/2000), mentoring with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of NYS (2000) and at the Berkshire Farm for Boys (2001), participating in solidarity exchanges (Nicaragua, 2002), and interning at the Heritage School (an arts based charter school in NYC, 2004). She came to work with DREAM in the fall of 2004 as an Americorps*VISTA and is excited to be continuing her work with the program.

• Chris Howell, Camp Development Director
  

  Current Projects:
  2-year Development Plan for Camp
  DREAM Living History and Future of Camp DREAM
  Overseeing Building Projects
  Grants/Fundraising
  Camp Local Foods Program
  Overseeing Volunteer Work Crews
  Mapping Camp
  WAC and Summer Camp
  

  Areas of Interest
  Building and Design
  Visual Design
  Food, Farming, And Gardening
  Planning place-based program
  Gardening and dancing with kids
  Team-building
  
  
  
  Chris is a February 2005 graduate from Middlebury College with a degree in Geography, Chris worked with a number of students and community members to establish the Middlebury College Organic Garden.  Since graduation he has worked on his father’s farm, farms in France and Spain, and dabbled in landscape design in his home town of Arlington, MA.  Digging in the dirt, creating magical spaces, and building creative structures will no doubt fill his head, heart, and dreams.

• Chris Brown, Programs Liaison
  

  Current Projects:
  Local Program Support
  D-Unit big picture: support & program structure
  New Program Start Up
  Completing the Vermont Picture
  Mentor resource development & training

  Areas of Interest:
  Recruiting
  Retreat planning
  Social Justice & Advocacy
  Issues of Poverty & Low Income Housing
  Facilitation & Leadership training
  

  
  Chris is a 2006 graduate of the University of Vermont, majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry and Music (Vocal Performance). A native of Burlington, VT, and a graduate of Burlington High School, he just can't seem to get away from the area. As an undergraduate, Chris became involved in DREAM as a mentor and during his time in the program served as co-chair, a member of the community development committee and helped coordinate and run major recruiting efforts over the year. Outside of DREAM, Chris became involved in many social justice endeavors, including the Next Step Social Justice Retreat and Men Advocating Change. Outside of this, Chris has been very involved in local community theatre groups, and enjoys hiking and climbing. He joined the DREAM Central Office as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in the Fall of 2006.
  Scott Hess is a 2006 graduate of The University of Vermont with a major in Secondary Education focusing on Earth Science and a minor in Music. For the past five years he has worked at a residential summer camp where he worked his way up the ranks to finish out his tenure as Boys' head counselor and sailing coordinator. A native of Utah and home town in Cincinnati, Ohio, Scott has three siblings, a calico cat named Puck and a toy poodle name Lilly. Beyond working with kids, Scott also enjoy sailing, hiking, swimming, and performing music at local coffee shops.


• Daniel Shearer, Communications Director
  

  Current Projects:
  Facilitation of Development Team
  Community Partner Relationships
  Donor Cultivation & Appeals
  DREAM Gear Inventory
  Connections With DREAM Alumni Organization
  Bus Maintenance & Vegetable Oil Fuel Procurement

  Areas of Interest:
  Building Partnerships between Businesses and Non-profits
  Involving Mentors in Community and State Activism
  First Aid Training & Preventative Care
  Vegetable Oil Conversion
  Conservation and Recycling
  
  
  Daniel grew up in the little community of Emory in Southwestern Virginia where he ran cross country every fall, traveled in the summers, and went to band camp. Steeped in rural mountain living, he is intrigued by cities, but also feels strange around them. Vermont is a good location at the moment, as he finds many great things within walking or biking distance and enjoys the state's emphasis on good food and local production. Before arriving here in the summer of 2004, Daniel attended Williams College in the Massachusetts Berkshires, another favorite spot. There, he met phenomenal people, including Jen, and learned to be a fire fighter and an EMT. He currently volunteers at Essex Rescue every Tuesday. After working for the City of Burlington for a year as a community organizer, Daniel moved to DREAM for the opportunity to work on bringing a community together around a super project.
  
• Chad Butt, Programs Director
  

  Current Projects:
  Vehicle Maintenance and Veggie Oil system improvements
  New Local Program Start-Up
  Local Program Support

  Areas of Interest:
  *Trips Planning (transportation and safety)
  *Friday Activities For All Ages
  *Co-Chair facilitation
  *Child Behavior Management
  
  
  Chad is a 2004 graduate of Dartmouth College, where he majored in Earth Science and got his secondary teacher certification credential. He was a mentor in the DREAM program for his four year at Dartmouth and was instrumental in and chaired Extreme DREAM, a sub sec of DREAM for teenagers. He volunteered at the local middle school in Hanover, mentoring and tutoring 8th graders with learning disabilities. He spent the spring break of his sophomore year in Tegucigalpa, Honduras working at El Hogar, an orphanage, with a group of Dartmouth students. Chad decided to delay his teaching career for a bit to make a difference in children’s lives in another way, by coming on board with DREAM as an Americorps VISTA in the position of Program Liaison in August 2004. Chad had so much fun last year that he has decided to take on the role of Programs Director as of August 2005.
  
  
• Mike Loner, Executive Director
  

  Current Projects:
  United Way grant for Chittenden County
  Long-term planning for program replication
  DREAM's Mentor Theory of Change Research
  Developing/reinvigorating DREAM partnerships across Vermont

  Areas of Interest:
  Outdoor Recreation and Trip Planning
  Long-term vision of DREAM
  Camp DREAM/Adventure programming
  Child Abuse Issues
  
  
  
  Mike comes to DREAM with a varied background. Most recently, he has worked for a regional municipal organization in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties of Vermont where he has spent 6 years developing, implementing and managing numerous direct services and educational programs for local residents, businesses and schools on solid waste and environmental issues. He lives with his wife Vicki and their two dogs in St. Albans and he is active in community affairs both locally and statewide. In St. Albans Mike is a member of the St. Albans Teen Center Board and the St. Albans Planning Commission. In his spare time Mike is a Graduate student in the Master of Public Administration program at UVM where he was recently inducted into the National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration. He has an Associates of Applied Science degree in Forestry from Paul Smiths College and a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Science from Plattsburgh State University. Mike has been with DREAM since March of 2005.
  
  


Mike comes to DREAM with a varied background. Most recently, he has worked for a regional municipal organization in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties of Vermont where he has spent 6 years developing, implementing and managing numerous direct services and educational programs for local residents, businesses and schools on solid waste and environmental issues. He lives with his wife Vicki and their two dogs in St. Albans and he is active in community affairs both locally and statewide. In St. Albans Mike is a member of the St. Albans Teen Center Board and the St. Albans Planning Commission. In his spare time Mike is a Graduate student in the Master of Public Administration program at UVM where he was recently inducted into the National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration. He has an Associates of Applied Science degree in Forestry from Paul Smiths College and a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Science from Plattsburgh State University. Mike has been with DREAM since March of 2005

(Click Yellow T-shirts for biographies)
(Click Blue T-shirts for personal photos)


• Katie Wiseman, Programs Directior
  
  
  Current Projects:
  Local Program Support
  DSAT: DREAM Service Adventure Team
  Coffee Talks/ Mentor Socials
  New Programs @ Middlebury, etc
  
  Areas of Interest:
  Combining DREAM with community service opportunities
  Spreading DREAM energy and excitement to new colleges and communities with New Local Programs
  Communication
  Getting to know different organizations and agencies in Vermont and beyond
  
  

  Katie is a graduate of Champlain College, 2007, with a B.S. in Social Work, and is an ordained minister. DREAM happened upon Katie in her second year of college when Chad Butt and Mike Foote shared stories, Katie cried; and thus began Birchwood DREAM at Champlain College. During her college DREAM days Katie served as a co-chair for two years and was lucky enough to mentor and be mentored by an incredibly intelligent and compassionate young girl from Birchwood Manor. While at Champlain, Katie was honored with the Sophomore year and Senior year Social Work Student of the Year awards and completed 900 hours of community service/volunteer work through Vermont’s Campus Compact Education Award during her senior year; mostly through DREAM, volunteering at an elderly care facility, an alternative spring break in New Orleans, and an unpaid internship in a youth residential house at the Howard Center. She organized the campus’s first ever Social Work club and was a member of Champlain’s Improv Troupe. These days, Katie is a program director with the revitalized and energetic Highgate DREAM and is busily helping start new DREAM programs throughout the state of Vermont. Outside of DREAM, Katie was invited, and accepted, to become a board member of 36 Squared, an emerging non-profit dreamt up by DREAM alum, Josh Warren, which provides developing countries the means to construct learning spaces. She is also becoming a mentor again, this time through Community Friends, and has found a new hobby in pottery, and hopefully she will one day actually make something.

  
  
• Edie Rhoads, Programs Director
  
  
  Current Projects:
  First Ever DREAM Teen Community Service Adventure!
  CIT Recruitment and Leadership Training
  Creating an Activity Bank for Teen DREAMers and Mentors
  Local Program Support
  
  Areas of Interest:
  Creative Expression for Teens
  Identity Issues - Substance and Sex Education, Self-Esteem Building
  College and Career Planning
  Motivational Interviewing
  

  Edie comes to DREAM from Brooklyn, NY where she was teaching preschool and earning her Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at NYU. While in New York, Edie worked as a visiting artist in a 6th grade classroom on the Lower East Side, acquired a wily family of street cats, and taught an introductory workshop in Creative Writing at NYU. During a seven month break from her studies, Edie explored Thailand, India, China and Laos. Edie graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English Literature and Religious Studies. A big fan of the great outdoors, Edie has been a ropes course instructor for the Oakland/San Francisco Boys and Girls Club Camp and a Nature Counselor for Camp Wakonda, a summer camp in Bear Mountain, NY for children living in the shelter system in NYC. This year, Edie is excited to get to know Vermont and help DREAM grow!

• Elizabeth Haag, Programs Director
  
  
  Current Projects:
  Local Program Support
  Facilitation
  Acquiring Resources to Assist Mentors
  Teen Programming
  
  Areas of Interest:
  Future College/Career Planning
  Healthy Relationships
  Adventure Planning
  Conflict Resolution
  Facilitation Techniques & Tools
  

  Liz Haag is a recent 2007 graduate of the University of Vermont (UVM), with a focus in Sociology and Recreation Management. She came to Vermont on a whim, looking to escape the flatlands of Indiana, and fell in love. After many years of admiring the DREAM program, Liz is excited to finally be part of the team. Much of her professional development has been working with adolescents and young adults in a wilderness setting, and using experiential education as a primary building block for success. She has spent time working with Outward Bound Wilderness in Montana as well as the UVM Outing Club through leading trips in the backcountry and teaching W.I.L.D. (Wilderness Instruction and Leadership Development), a wilderness instruction class for UVM students. Liz is very passionate about experiential education, and is eager to further implement these ideals in the development of DREAM’s Teen Programs. In her spare time, Liz typically spends time relaxing with friends, and exploring the world for new adventures!

• Nicole Walsh, Programs Director
  
  
  Current Projects:
  Teen Service Project Adventure (possibly to NOLA)
  Mentor Socials
  Research of Effect Teen Programming
  Assessing and Creating effective ways to complete reference checks
  
  Areas of Interest:
  Networking with other Mentoring/teen organizations
  Recognition
  Providing support to local programs
  Theory of Change
  Education
  

  Nicole is a 2007 graduate from Champlain College, majoring in Elementary Education and a minor in Early Childhood Education. She found DREAM from a good friend second semester of her sophomore year, and since then has been an active member of DREAM. Aside from volunteering with DREAM, Nicole completed over 900 hours of community service earning a Vermont Campus Compact Education Award. 100 of these hours were served in New Orleans helping rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. The majority of the remaining hours were achieved through DREAM. Nicole has spent two summers working for DREAM and is excited to continue her “DREAM job” this year.

• Stephanie Loscalzo, Camp Programs Director
  
  
  Current Projects:
  WAC Templates
  WAC Binders
  Grant Research
  Program Development
  Summer Camp
  
  Areas of Interest:
  Program Coordinating
  Developing Environmental Programs
  Teaching
  Exploring
  
  
  Stephanie Loscalzo is 2006 graduate from SUNY Cortland with a B.S. in Environmental and Cultural Interpretation. Throughout the summers, Stephanie worked for several outdoor schools and a YMCA camp leading trips and teaching environmental education. During her undergraduate years, Stephanie volunteered for a variety of environmental and community organizations as well as served on the board for several clubs. After graduation Stephanie moved to Australia where she worked for Outward Bound Australia leading trips and aided with the development of their environmental program. Stephanie served as Environmental Board Director at the Outdoor Gear Exchange (a small gear shop in Burlington VT), and helped them organize and run their annual Eco-festival. Stephanie came to work for DREAM in the fall of 2007 as Camp Programs Director and works with both the Franklin Square and Forest Park communities.
  
  
• Lauren Armstrong, Camp Land Steward
  
  
  Current projects:
  Development of Camp Comprehensive Management Plan
  Overseeing volunteer work crews
  GPS mapping of Camp
  Grant Research and Writing
  Winter Adventure Camp Planning
  
  Areas of interest:
  Environmental and outdoor education
  Adventure/trip planning
  Teen leadership development
  Fundraising
  The Bus!

Lauren graduated from Middlebury College in May 2007 with a degree in Environmental Studies and Sociology/Anthropology. In college, she played Ultimate Frisbee, led trips with the Mountain Club, worked in the college organic garden and dining hall, and participated in an environmental activism student group.  Off campus, she helped implement a garden education program at local elementary schools, and worked with an advocacy group for the  Mexican dairy farm workers in Vermont. During her year abroad South America, she taught English at an elementary school in Ecuador, explored Andean volcanoes, and made a documentary film about the petroleum industry in Bolivia. After spending the summer in New Hampshire helping to organize a march around climate change, she started working for the amazing DREAM program.  She now serves as the Land Steward at Camp DREAM, working to create sustainable programs and structures, and to connect all DREAMers to the opportunities for adventure and learning at Camp.

• Tara Hostnik, Camp Programs Director
  
  
  Current projects:
  CIT program development
  Bus driver certification
  WAC and summer camp planning
  Birchwood and Highgate/Green Acres Camp Laison
  Tipi construction at camp
  Grant writing
  
  Areas of Interest:
  Outdoor education/pursuits
  Cultural awareness and traveling
  Teen programming
  Cooking and gardening
  

Tara graduated from Saint Michael's College in 2007 with a major in Biology and minor in Religious Studies.  In school, Tara participated in the Wilderness Program for four years, leading students on backpacking, hiking, kayaking and snowshoe trips around New England. She was also an active member of the M.O.V.E. program, organizing volunteers to do trail work at Mad River Glen and the Intervale Conservation Nursery. While abroad her Junior year in Australia, Tara joined the spirit-filled Flinders Ultimate Frisbee team and has been obcessed with Ultimate ever since! There, she took courses in sustainability and joined the local food co-op, usually spending her time weeding in the community garden or biking to the beach! Riding her bicycle is one of her favorite things to do, along with skiing, rock climbing and anything else that brings her out of the house. Tara learned about DREAM from Jen (at the water fountain) and now she can't wait to start her new super-duper job!


• Sarah Sprague, Camp Programs Director
  
  
  Current Projects:
  WAC Planning & Creation of Camp Programming Binder
  Camp Website Updates
  Grant Writing
  Summer Camp Organization
  Camp Liaison for Local Programs
  
  Areas of Interests:
  Outdoor Education
  Conflict Resolution
  Peace & Health Psychology
  Exploring Vermont
  

  Sarah is very excited to be working with DREAM this year having graduated from Bates College with a B.A in Psychology in 2007. Driven by her interest in youth education and health issues from a psychological standpoint, Sarah wrote her thesis on medical anxieties and education in children with asthma after volunteering in an allergy and asthma clinic in Lewiston, ME. Sarah’s interests have always revolved around creating experiences for youth that expand their knowledge and boundaries. This past summer, Sarah worked as a residential assistant and field hockey coach at the Tabor Academy Summer Program. During the summers of 2004 & 2005, Sarah taught at-risk youth orienteering, fire building with flint and steel, creek exploration, and the water cycle at The Hiram House Camp where she was fondly referred to as “Nature Sarah.” Sarah now joins DREAM as an AmeriCorps member with an aim to learn as much about youth programming, camp building, and the Vermont way of life as possible.

• Lily Landes, Historian
  
  
  Current Projects:
  DREAM 2007 Newsletter
  Forming a partnership with a UVM Service Learning Class
  Maintenance Of Online Photo Galleries
  Creating the first ever DREAM podcast
  Filming and editing short films about DREAM
  
  Areas of Interest:
  Archiving Methods
  Utilizing Facebook and other social networking sites for DREAM’s Benefit
  Capturing the history of DREAM through multimedia
  Educating mentees about film and video production
  

  Lily Landes is 2007 graduate from The University of Vermont where she completed a major in Philosophy and a minor in Film and Television Studies. An active member of the John Dewey Honors Program, she spent much of her last year at school working on an honors thesis which focused on the role of humanism and naturalism in portrait photography. Interested in early childhood education, she has spent the last two summers working as a teaching assistant at the Firehouse Gallery's art camp, and last year became a volunteer at the COTS family shelter. She also has a passion for photography and film, and her work was recently displayed at the "Member's Only" show at the Firehouse Gallery. She came to work with DREAM in the fall of 2007 and is looking forward to a great year!

• David Gustafson, Director of Technology
  
  
  Current Projects:
  Wiki Mentor Database
  Office Computer Server/Network Maintenance and upgrading
  Connect two offices through VPN
  Website Maintence and updates
  Summer Recap webpage
  
  Areas of interest:
  Camp development
  WAC
  Communication issues
  Computer and internet Technology
  Digital image manipulation

  David Gustafson is a 2007 Computer Networking graduate from Champlain College earning his Associates and Bachelors of Science. In 2005, his sophomore year in college, he found DREAM and has been mentoring an awesome 9yr old boy ever since. He is originally from the small state of Rhode Island but has fell in love with the charm of Vermont and Burlington. Dave’s pastimes include music, reading, art, and snowboarding the mountains of Vermont. He is very excited to put his technology and computer skills to work to find solutions to communication and technical challenges for DREAM.

• Cailie Burns, Vermont Network Coordinator
  
  
  Current Projects:
  DREAM's Theory of Change Research
  Development of DREAM's Network
  Camp DREAM Oversight Committee
  Development of DREAM's Resource Database
  Connection with DREAM's Alumni Organization
  
  Areas of Interest:
  Collaboration with other organizations
  Fundraising ideas
  Vermont State Resources
  Adventure/Big Planning
  Free Stuff for Local Programs
  

  Cailie Burns is a 2007 graduate of Saint Michael’s College where she majored in Political Science and Religious Studies. She was introduced DREAM during the fall semester of her freshman year. At the Saint Mike’s DREAM Program she served not only as a mentor, but also aided in fundraising and helped coordinate and fulfill major recruiting efforts over the years, and was a co-chair for the program for two terms. Outside of her work with DREAM she was a frequent volunteer with various programs through the M.O.V.E. Office; she served on the Extended Service Committee, volunteered and ran trips to Immokalee Florida to work with Habitat for Humanity and a local charter school, and acted as the DREAM representative on the CORE team. Cailie was also on the Student Association for three years, a member of the Women’s Varsity Tennis team and a member of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee. During the summer of 2006 Cailie spent part of the summer in Morocco where she witnessed horrible levels of poverty which further enhanced her concern of human resources and economic justice and led her to a year long internship with the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger during her senior year. There she worked to develop new programs based on federally funded money to expand information about free/reduced school meals, food stamps, and other federally funded nutrition assistance programs, conducted nationally based research regarding food stamp outreach for immigrants and refugees and aided in developing a new outreach program for immigrants and refugees to expand education and participation in the food stamp program. Naturally when it came to looking for post graduate opportunities she was drawn back to the DREAM Program, where she now fills an AmeriCorps position as the Vermont Networks Coordinator and looks forward to continued work with the program.