Meet Karen Immerso | Experiential Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Karen Immerso and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Karen, what principle do you value most?
Making the most of each day is certainly a principle I live by. After surviving two cancers and learning to recognize how precious life is, I believe strongly in taking one day at a time and living today as if it might be my last.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets me apart from others and what I am most proud of is an approach to working with adults that is unique. I can say that I am a master teacher from years of experiences instructing in different settings and different mediums.
My professional journey has included not only guiding people in the outdoors, but running a collegiate outdoor program, teaching classes in my community (ceramics, Spanish), facilitating women’s groups and working in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community…all of these calling on a level of patience, creativity, empathy and flexibility to allows others to find fun in learning and power in who they are and are becoming as people in the world.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Since I do not live in a city and love places that offer myself and others a connection with the natural world, I look to facilitate opportunities for others… like a chance to see beauty, to have a change of pace, to find some new perspective or energy, to try something new, to consider a taking walk or eating a healthy meal… simple things that add to a person’s opportunity to experience their own power, a greater sense of themselves, their ability to enhance their life, even to add to one’s spiritual life all by keeping it SIMPLE and REAL and often outside of a normal day to day routine.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My career as a field instructor for 40 years with Outward Bound has been a foundational part of my life. Learning about myself, my experiences working with groups, understanding differences and the people I’ve had in my groups as students and participants, the personalities and different learning styles has allowed me to become who I am today. All of this has added to my other teaching opportunities in being an experiential educator in other realms.

Website: https://www.rootedwithin.org

Image Credits
https://www.rijksgallery.com/immerso-pottery