Our Staff

A rigorous five-hour application process allows us to successfully hire exceptional people. A 70+ hour training seminar gives our staff the additional skills they need to lead this unique and exciting program. All of our Quest Leaders are skilled teachers, storytellers, mediators, and actors. We choose leaders who can support an environment of physical and emotional safety, while cultivating a relaxed and joyful learning experience.

“The Staff at Renaissance Adventures share surprising stories and inspiring creativity in a fresh and playful atmosphere that encourages children's inquisitive mind and natural intelligence.”
~ Beverley Weiler, Program Director, Santa Fe Tree-House Camp

Meet our staff! Click here to see pictures and bios of our current Quest Leaders!

We are dreamers, writers, actors, blacksmiths, martial artists, poets, teachers, students, artisans, therapists, story-weavers and adventurers! Many of our staff have their own private practices and continue on their creative endeavors all year round. We are grateful and honored to work with such exceptional people! It is their heart and effort, and their creative talents that make Renaissance Adventures so special to so many people.

“Incredibly creative staff who introduce serendipity into every quest, perpetuating the sense of magic for those children and adults who are on the verge of losing it.”
~ Ellen Greenhouse, psychologist

Chris: After being passed over in the 2005 NBA draft due to a career ending “lack of talent, athleticism, and having no experience playing basketball on a high stage,” Chris became a Quest Leader. In addition to Adventure Quest, he enjoys writing, reading, cooking, yoga, and basketball. Chris is currently attending Naropa University, where he is studying Writing & Literature.

Joaquin: Joaquin has been a Quest Leader since 2006. He is a teacher, actor, singer/songwriter and an advocate for social justice. His favorite band right now is The Gaslight Anthem. His favorite movies of all time go back and forth between The Warriors, The Wild Bunch and The Empire Strikes Back. His favorite book is The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany. Joaquin likes tamales, fire, monkeys and things that spin.

Eric: A fun-loving Quest Leader who enjoys snowboarding, the outdoors, gaming of all kinds, and good challenges. Just graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Japanese, and is hoping to spend time in Japan teaching English. Can be found playing and having fun at almost every possible opportunity, even at work!

Valiant

Lang: Lang is an actor, writer, and director. He loves having fun, and can think of no better way to spend his summer than here at camp. Dogs rule!

Anna: During the winter, Anna treks through the lands of orcs and elves (that’s New Zealand to outsiders). She is actually half-orc and half-elf herself, but keeps this fact well hidden under mouse ears.

William: William likes superheroes and what we can learn from them. He is a student of electronics at San Juan Basin Technical College in Mancos, Colorado and is returning this summer to Renaissance Adventures to help Quest Lead the Phoenix Overnight. Aspiring to be as good of a person as he can be, William hopes to show the people around him that it is within their power to do so as well.

Tam

Rosemary: Rosemary is a Physics and Mathematics major at CU Boulder. She enjoys solving partial differential equations, differential calculus, Fourier transforms, and selling stuff on a stick.

Paul

Meet the Office Trolls!

Mark Hoge, the director and founder of Renaissance Adventures, has been leading storytelling, acting, dance, outdoor games, nature activities, swordmanship and interactive quests with children and teens since 1981. As a child and teen, Mark attended creative arts camps with his mother and grandmother. Mark began leadership training with the Boy Scouts and as an Eagle Scout. In the eighties he spent eight full summers teaching at summer camps. He has directed full-length summer camps every year since 1990, and has led Adventure Quest classes in public and private schools since the beginning of 1995. Extensive experience in psychology, improvisational theater and storytelling, hand-in-hand with a passion to discover ways to engage and empower children, has given birth to the unique and effective teaching tool of Adventure Quest. Mark has brought together a fine staff of teachers with whom he has co-created the high-quality innovative company that Renaissance Adventures is today.

Aaron Pirnack, the assistant director and business manager of Renaissance Adventures, has a passion for experiential education and keeping one’s imagination and playfulness throughout this journey called life. He began working as a Quest Leader in the summer of 2000, and has since weaseled his way into lordship. As a writer by trade and spirit, he has written many of the quests, helped create the game rules, wrote the Worldbook, and continues to share his love of stories with others through many different venues. Aaron graduated the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, believes that learning is a life-long pursuit. As a Christian and free-thinker, he hopes that by allowing children to find their own unique empowerment and inspiration, perhaps each generation will outshine the last.

Lisa is Renaissance Adventures' Office Manager, and has been with RA since 2005. She grew up in western Massachusetts, received her BA in English, and worked as a Technical Writer/On-line Help Developer for many years. She moved to Colorado in 2003 and lives in the mountains with her husband and daughter. Her interests include running, reading, cooking/baking, and spending time with her family. One of the best parts of her job is being able to work with parents and children, and she especially enjoys watching how much fun her daughter has Questing at RA!

Beryl migrated to Boulder from Louisiana many years ago. She graduated from LSU with a BA in Sociology. She retired from a career in the Dept. of Health and Human Services. Beryl is currentIy the Office Assistant at RA. She enjoys working out, reading and writing. "I love all the creative aspects of RA. It's quite liberating!"