ABOUT US
STAFF
Teresa Gonsoski (she/her) is the founder and lead teacher of Trails Together. She has been teaching in the field of early childhood education for over twenty years. Her main teaching interests are creating a "yes" environment, encouraging children to take risks, and promoting collaborative play. She teaches as adjunct faculty in Child Development at Foothill College and Santa Rosa Junior College. She started backpacking on a Sierra Club trip in 2012 and now leads trips with Sierra Club National Outings throughout California. Based on participant feedback, she was awarded an Outstanding Leader Award in 2025. She is certified in CPR, basic first aid, and Wilderness First Aid.
Caroline Skrobak (they/them) teaches with the summer camp. They have spent the past few years working with preschool and elementary aged children in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments. Caroline is a thoughtful and attentive educator who is truly invested in encouraging children to play and explore in the outdoors.
In the summer, we're also joined by enthusiastic high school volunteers from Homestead High in Cupertino.
HISTORY
Trails Together was inspired by families. It began in 2016 when parents in Teresa's preschool classroom started to ask her if she knew of an organization, like the Sierra Club, that offered camping trips for families with young children. Since that didn't seem to exist, Teresa set up a one-night campout for the families in her classroom. It was so popular that she immediately returned from the campout and set up another one. The following spring, Teresa began offering campouts to all families at the children's center.
After interest in family campouts began to dwindle, Teresa started her own preschool and summer camp, based on the model of the nature school where she worked for five years. Both the Nature-Immersion Preschool and Adventure Camp have been running since 2024.