Gina Kuhn is Great River School's first Adolescent Program Assistant! Providing daily support for students and staff of the adolescent program, Gina is on the move all over Great River! She works hard to assist teachers and classrooms and enjoys collaborating with the administrative team. This semester, she is looking forward to continuing to facilitate logistics for the theater program. You might just find her checking in directly with students throughout the day or helping to plan key experiences. Let’s get to know Gina!
Biography provided by Gina Kuhn, Adolescent Program Assistant
Having grown up in the Mojave desert, I naturally developed a profound respect for and connection to the immense wilderness of the sky. This deepened through the years and instilled a strong desire to live in close connection with the wildness of the Earth and stars. It is through a deep curiosity and love of learning which compels me to live with immense reverence and gratitude for all of nature, plants, and our human connection. I am a small business owner and belong to our community as an herbalist, writer, dreamer, song carrier, water protector, educator and mother.
Working intimately with plants and medicinal herbalism has guided me to engage in a lifelong journey of exploration & growth. I have been studying plant medicine since 2009 where I first attended The North American Institute of Medicinal Herbalism in Boulder, Colorado. Although the plants have taken me many places alongside many teachers, it was upon relocating to Minnesota where I found a certain familiarity with the rhythm and spirit of the land. This beckoned me onto a quest for lost memories of the once wild spirit and awoke an ancient remembrance of how to be in direct relationship with the land and the plants that grow around us. It is here where I discovered the magic of living in such close proximity to the wild waters of Minnesota and found the importance of protecting the waters and the wild places of the Earth.
My life has been a patchwork of passions in which I have been able to combine my background in education and my passion for the natural world to create many opportunities to lead with this heart work.
A diverse work history has led me both inside and outside of the classroom. I found an immense interest in supporting childhood development working as an Early Childhood Literacy Specialist early in my career. My time with The Wellness Initiative in Boulder, Colorado allowed me to spend my time in the most meaningful and joyful way; public school outreach bringing kid’s yoga programming into after school care programs. Here in the Twin Cities, I have enjoyed facilitating child-led nature walks for parents and preschoolers with Free Forest School. Highlighting wild exploration and unstructured play and discovery in nature for young developing minds.
In 2016, I started my business, The Ever Wild Herbal Company, to share my medicine making and work to help connect & empower folks on their journeys to develop unique ways to be in connection with the land and plants around them. It has been my privilege and honor to continue this work and help inspire youth to find and embrace a deeper connection within themselves and with our wild collective.
A little more about me:
I value the relationship between ourselves and nature and strive to support all of us to be in a more meaningful relationship with the land.
I am passionate about creating mindful & positive influence through learning and being an advocate within our community.
I believe that we all have individual experiences and interpretations to share and learn from. These interactions are what bring us together cooperatively in our collective experience.
I am very interested in the power of owning and speaking one’s truth, which I find for myself through singing, dreamwork, teaching, and earth-based living.
