ANNA KAYES
The College of William and Mary, B.A., Anthropology, Archaeology

While at William and Mary, Anna studied Maya Archaeology and played on the varsity soccer team. Anna studied abroad in Guatemala, where she camped in the rain forest and joined excavations at several Pre-Classic Maya sites in Tikal National Park. After graduation, she worked as a research and curatorial assistant in the Department of Archaeology at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., before moving to India and Thailand for a year to teach English. While volunteering in India, Anna lived in a Tibetan Buddhist children’s community where she ran a youth soccer program and worked with community members to build a soccer field in the local village. She also began a girls’ soccer team at a high school in Thailand, coaching the team through the school’s first tournament in over a decade. During her time in Asia, Anna spent time traveling through Nepal, Cambodia, and Laos. She now lives in Vermont and works full time for Putney Student Travel, and coaches a local high school soccer team and an elementary track team. Anna directs programs in Iceland, Alaska, and Thailand. She has twice led Putney’s Community Service program in Dominica as well as our Cultural Exploration Thailand, Cultural Exploration Iceland, and Cultural Exploration Alaska programs.

KEVIN WEIDNER
Loyola University Chicago, B.A., English; The University of Alabama, M.F.A., Creative Writing

While completing his M.F.A. at the University of Alabama, Kevin studied creative writing, both prose and poetry, and taught English and creative writing to undergraduate students. His writing has been published in numerous literary journals, and his work has been nominated for the Best New Poets series and was a finalist for the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship. In addition to the university level, Kevin has also taught creative writing to high school students at the Putney School in Vermont, where he was able to share his love of outdoor adventure. Kevin has led backpacking and rock climbing programs with students from the Putney School throughout New England. Kevin has traveled in Mexico and Canada, road tripped through Italy, and explored 48 of the U.S. states. He has backpacked in Denali National Park, sections of the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Vermont’s Long Trail, and spent a summer driving 15,000 miles around the U.S. Kevin now coordinates social media at Putney Student Travel, writes and manages the monthly newsletter, and contributes to the blog. He lives full-time in an off-grid yurt.