Our Team - Boreal Outdoor Education School

Taiga Outdoor Education Society

Our independent board provides governance and works with the Boreal Outdoor Education School, a division of Thomi Forestry (independent business), and other educational organizations to bring the highest quality of place-based learning to the locations where we operate.

The purposes of the Society are:

To provide experiential outdoor learning workshops, classes, nature camps to existing organizations and schools within the boreal forest region.
To bring place-based learning to students, clients or employees at affordable costs with little preparation time through a team of skilled professionals, Indigenous knowledge keepers/elders, experienced educators, administrators, and grant writers.
To facilitate relationship building between education organizations and the local community to increase knowledge sharing to create resilient communities.
To promote wellness and well-being through meaningful connections with nature, land-based learning, outdoor activities, cultural knowledge-sharing, and community engagement, supporting physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.
To encourage environmental stewardship, lifelong learning, and a holistic understanding of the interconnected relationships between people, land, culture, and community.

Board of Directors

Robert Larson

President

Tami Braman

Secretary

Tami Braman has taught for 20 years in elementary education and currently teaches lower elementary at Peace Christian School in her home town of Chetwynd, BC. She has had an interest in Outdoor Education as a part of regular classroom teaching for many years and spent several years in Alaska working on a Masters of Science in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She also worked as a teaching principal in Alberta for 7 years, giving her experience as a secretary of the board and with administration in Independent Schools. She looks forward to discovering what more she can do to bring her students' learning into the outdoors. When not teaching, she enjoys hiking with her dog, trying her hand at basket weaving, and discovering more about local birds and plant life.

Joscelyn Hannaford

Treasurer

Educator / Holistic Practitioner / Nature & Wellness Facilitator

Joscelyn is an educator, holistic practitioner, and lifelong lover of nature with a Bachelor of Science from Oregon State University and a Bachelor of Education from Simon Fraser University. She has experience teaching children and youth in both classroom and experiential settings, and brings a deep belief that some of our most meaningful learning happens when we step outside, slow down, and connect directly with the natural world.

Growing up with strong roots in farming, animals, gardens, and the Peace River Valley, Joscelyn has always felt a deep connection to the land and to the wisdom found through nature, relationship, and community. Through her work in yoga, Reiki, clinical hypnotherapy, and nervous-system awareness, she is passionate about helping people reconnect with themselves, their intuition, and their sense of belonging.

Joscelyn is excited to contribute to Taiga Outdoor Education Society by bringing her experience as an educator, facilitator, and nature-connected practitioner, while supporting opportunities for children and youth to learn through curiosity, movement, exploration, and direct experience with the land.

Outside of her work, Joscelyn enjoys spending time outdoors with her animals, gardening, hiking, practicing yoga, riding, traveling, and simply being in nature.

Executive Director

Leadership for our day-to-day programs and long-term vision.

Cornelia Thomi

Executive Director / Program Manager / Visionary

Cornelia is a Registered Professional Forester (RPF) in BC with over 20 years experience working in timber development, operational harvesting, planning, and silviculture. She has extensive experience working directly with Indigenous people and collaborating with skilled professionals for a variety of work. Her vision is to ensure more students in the north gain access to quality place-based experiential learning with a northern ecology focus. She is currently working towards her Bachelor of Education and has found that learning happens best outside when you can physically see, smell, and touch the environment. Her passion is to connect people to their intuition through being present in nature, play, and exploration. She enjoys writing, teaching, and speaking to many different people to inspire them to trust themselves, to dream big, and to take aligned action to accomplish their visions. On her off time, Cornelia can be found kayaking, hiking, traveling the world, reading, and spending time in nature.

Team Members

The educators, coordinators, and contributors making it happen on the ground.

Janie Dubman

Virtual Creator

Janie is a terrestrial ecologist drawn to projects that make a real-world difference to flora and fauna. She holds an MSc and BSc in Biological Sciences from Simon Fraser University and has worked in tropical, temperate and northern ecosystems on species ranging from songbirds to moose. After volunteering on an orangutan conservation project in Borneo, Janie overcame her fear of public speaking to deliver talks about these amazing apes and their imperiled jungle to audiences all over Vancouver. This endeavour sparked a great enthusiasm for environmental outreach that saw Janie bringing hundreds of K-12 students into the forests of northern BC to connect kids with the land around them. Her three kids are her test audience for new modules, and she's most likely to be found digging in her backyard 'food forest' and native plant garden after work.

Bruce McKay

Northern BC Grant Writer / Indigenous Curriculum Developer

Bruce McKay is a proud Red River Métis educator and the CEO (Chief Education and Empathy Officer) of Medicine Wheel Training Services. With decades of experience in Indigenous education, adult learning, and community development, Bruce is dedicated to land-based learning, environmental stewardship, and meaningful reconciliation. His work focuses on co-creating culturally relevant curriculum that brings together traditional Indigenous knowledge, Elder and Knowledge Keeper teachings, and Northern outdoor studies. Through creating opportunities for experiential, community-driven education, Bruce works to strengthen relationships, support Indigenous learners, and reconnect people to the land, culture, and one another.

Cynthia Percy

Advanced Curriculum Developer

Cynthia has a Master's degree in French and German and has worked internationally as well as domestically for several years in various industries using her languages. Cynthia completed a Bachelor of Education at the University of Western Ontario and taught as a language teacher in Ontario. In 2007, Cynthia moved to Northern BC where she taught every grade from K-Grade 12 until moving over to administration in 2012. She has worked in the public and private systems. She is thoroughly versed in the British Columbia curriculum. Her interests run to farming and agriculture, writing, art, and spending time in nature. She has published two fiction and one non-fiction books.

Sierra Jamieson

Local Coordinator, Peace Country, BC

Sierra comes with over 7 years of hybrid non-profit/research and industry-lead biology work, generally focused in birds, wetlands and vegetation. Most of this in Western Canada with a few projects abroad in different cultural, ecological and practical context. She revels in knowledge sharing and acquisition as well as fostering a healthy value in curiosity. Sierra hopes to facilitate teachings in biology with a safe space for learning for the program.

Jarrod Blaney

Mackenzie Local Assistant & Coordinator

Coming from 12 years of industry experience in harvesting operations, road construction and bridge building. Jarrod's experience in field operation allows for a balance between the needs of forestry practices and protecting the environment. He has extensive knowledge of forestry operations. As an avid outdoorsman he also brings knowledge about fish and wildlife. He is constantly expanding his outdoor expertise.

Joann Dobish

Program Assistant / Office Administrator

Joann has an Oil and Gas contracts background. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Cell Biology and Genetics and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Health. Her academic background supports the collective's commitment to evidence-informed, place-based learning. Outside of the program, Joann embraces the outdoor lifestyle as an active hunter, championing the gifts of the great outdoors for men and women and their families alike.