Cassidy: Adventure & Purpose

I'm an author, adventurer, and educator. My literary focus is writing realistic adventure fiction for young men aged 12-18. The current state of literacy and education in our country concerns me, especially the ongoing struggle and decline seen with boys and young men in academia and beyond. Literacy and education have a special place in my life. Not because I was a good student and loved school or reading as a child or teenager. Rather, I generally disliked both school and reading. Intellectually I was bored to death and most teachers failed to inspire me, connect what we were doing in classrooms with the “real world”, or effectively communicate how our curriculum material was valuable and useful later in life. It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I read my first book cover-to-cover - "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. Prior to reading Krakauer I had only skimmed the bare minimum of books and survived English class on Spark/Cliff Notes to get through. While academia was a mostly negative experience, eventually I learned to cope by immersing myself into the world of sports, video games, music, and real life adventure. Even though I struggled academically during high school, I excelled throughout most of college and in the “real world”. I tried on a number of different careers before ironically deciding that I wanted to teach and work with young people. Much to my surprise, this involved becoming an author. Over the years, I've watched countless smart and talented young people have similarly negative academic experiences. Despite their potential to be successful, many have been inadequately prepared by our education system, communities, and sometimes even their families. Our youth are one of our greatest assets and I share a responsibility to invest fully in their future. Watching these young people struggle has inspired me to invest my energy and resources into the development of products and programs that will better serve and inspire youth to reach their potential. Influencing positive change in literacy and education requires innovation and refinement within the media publishing industry. In 2012 I began strategically forming a team through Adventure Lit Publishing to help do our part in supporting young people as positive influences while advocating for healthy change in how we prepare them for success in life. Outside of writing, I continue to work in outdoor recreation, education, and youth ministry. I am an advocate for experiential learning and outdoor education. I enjoy spending time with family and friends, exploring wilderness areas, embarking on crazy road trips, climbing up to high places, and flying or driving just about anything I can get behind the controls of. On the lighter side I’m a movie junkie, music lover, tea guru, foodie, and gadget geek. Most people just call me Cassidy.