Rustic Spirit Spotlights: Maile, Kadynce and Juanica

Maile Goldcamp
Age 17
Le Jardin Academy
Hawaii, United States

Maile has stepped-up as an invaluable mentor and leader in her community. She is part of a club at her school called Wild Kids which helps connect children to the outside by promoting outdoor learning in the form of forest play, native forest restoration, and hiking path maintenance. Maile also manages a group called ‘Food Dudes’ trying to help resolve food insecurity by growing native agriculture to harvest and donate to food banks. The opportunity has also allowed her to learn about native ecosystems, clear out invasive species, and be a positive presence in the group’s lives.

In her free time, Maile enjoys relaxing at the beach in her hammock and paints to de-stress throughout the week. Painting is one of her talents and passions which she has been doing since she can remember. Her grandmother would sit for hours showing her how to proportion the human face and how to draw landscapes.

Maile would love to earn a degree in either biology or art as those are two of her greatest interests and passions. Her grandfather’s father was an obstetrician-gynecologist who delivered hundreds of babies during the baby boom after World War II. While Maile had never really thought of going into the medical field, being an OBGYN has sparked her interests because being able to bring life into this world seems like an extremely rewarding job.

Impact advice: One thing that has been instilled into my brain is to “always show up”, a phrase from my advisor and good friend Christina Hoe. I have learned that dependability is really cool and it’s always great to be known as dependable. You want people to know that if you have time to help out, you absolutely will. 

Kadynce Jenkins
Age 17
Rhea County High School
Tennessee, United States

Kadynce is president of their school’s Interact Club, and in this role they have created a project to help the homeless throughout the community. Initially starting out as care packages for students, it is now a county-wide project that distributes care packages for the transitional students at school, as well as other members of the community. With the success of this project, Kadynce also led the club in setting up an open clothes closet at school. They recently also started a cinderella’s closet where students can pick out a formal dress for prom.

Kadynce loves seeing the world around them and their biggest hobbies are hiking and reading. They also play the ukulele! Kadynce is currently taking dual enrollment classes and has started intro to sociology. They hope to work in the social work field and be the change needed in today’s world.

Impact advice: If you have an idea, run with it. No matter how ridiculous people may think it is, it is possible. 

Juanica Walker
Old Dominion University
United States

Juanica goes above and beyond in anything she does with a smile. She is actively involved in the Human Services and Rotaract Clubs at Tidewater Community College. Juanica also volunteers and interns at the campus community feed in partnership with a local food bank.

In her free time, Juanica enjoys the outdoors with her 4-year-old son and new fluffy puppy. While she’s serious about many things, she also loves to laugh and be goofy. Juanica is a junior at Old Dominion University and is majoring in Human Services. After graduation she would love to work with children as an advocate to help them achieve their goals to the fullest.

Impact advice: Just believe in yourself. You’ve got to keep going!!

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At Rustic Pathways, our goal is to make positive contributions to the communities we visit through responsible travel operations and community service projects that contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.