About
Starshine aims to enliven the magic of nature through outdoor adventures for kids and adults.
Starshine is dedicated to empowering kids to shine their inner selves.
Starshine is currently partnering with Central Oregon resorts to offer outdoor programs for kids and adults, custom suited to your family + small group of family friends. Starshine kids activities blend nature, imagination, and performance. Kids can go on scavenger hunts, create their own nature-inspired performances, learn to identify birds and their songs, build fairy houses, and more. Starshine adult programs include stargazing tours of the night sky and guided hikes.
Benefits to imagination & performance
There are so many positive benefits to performance- and imagination-based activities from increased emotional regulation, sensory awareness, enhanced focus and concentration skills, as well as improved oral communication skills, and self-confidence. Theater-based programs can be a perfect place for eccentric and outgoing kids, as well as shy kids, since they provide a fun, inclusive learning environment for all.
Owner & Director
Jennie Sharp
Local Naturalist and educator, Jennie Sharp, has been leading outdoor adventures for kids and adults since 2008, when she worked in Yosemite National Park. With almost ten years living in Central Oregon, she's acquired a wealth of local knowledge that she loves to share. She is both passionate about the natural world and performing arts and incorporates each of those passions into all she endeavors.
She started Starshine in 2019 to fill a gap in after-school and summer camp offerings for local kids. Since then, Starshine has grown to offer programs not only for local kids, but also for kids and adults visiting Central Oregon from around the world.
Jennie received a bachelors degree from UC Berkeley in Art History with a minor in Forestry in 2005. She earned a teaching license in 2007 from University of San Diego, and a Masters of Science in Leadership for Sustainability Education from Portland State University in 2012.
Jennie, has had a variety of roles in education, from teaching outdoor field science; to teaching core subjects like language arts and social studies in Oregon schools; to guiding hikes for adults in Yosemite National Park. She is now dedicated to providing kids and adults with opportunities to have fun while expanding their imaginations, curiosity of the natural world, and performing arts skills.
Since 2015, Jennie has been a Performing Arts teacher at the Black Butte School in Camp Sherman. She directs Black Butte School's annual winter performance, creating memorable and timeless experiences for the performers and their adoring audiences. Click here to read press about the various shows Jennie has directed at Black Butte School.
Guide
Allison Lutz
Allison has always felt most at home in the natural world. But what ignited her spark for natural history and environmental education was a year spent in the North Cascades National Park as a young adult. This rugged and wild place inspired her writing and art and she dove into a deep study of its unique ecosystems. She was eager to share all that she was learning about its plants, animals, and landscapes with anyone who wanted to learn.
She started her path as an educator by earning her Masters Degree in Education, specializing in Natural Science and Science education at Western Washington University in 2004. She has worked with students of all ages at North Cascades Institute, Olympic Park Institute, and North Olympic Land Trust.
Allison has a special love for teaching nature writing and art inspired by nature. Most of all she loves spending time outdoors with children, guiding and supporting the natural curiosity and awe for nature that exists in all humans.
She has lived in Bend, Oregon for 14 years with her 2 children and husband, spending as much time outside as possible, whether it’s in the backyard, exploring the local creek, or venturing into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest.
Guide
Delaney Sharp
Delaney Sharp is a local teacher and naturalist. Delaney has been teaching outdoors and in the classroom for over twenty years; seven locally in the Metolius Basin. He is also a local angler with experience teaching young children and adults how to fly fish.
Delaney has a Bachelor's in History from Oregon State University and a Masters of Teaching from Lewis and Clark. He has taught in Oregon public schools since 2013, and currently as Head Teacher at Black Butte School in Camp Sherman. He also has experience teaching outdoor school programs for OMSI (Oregon Museum of Sience and Industry) on the Oregon Coast and in the Cascades, Nature Bridge in Yosemite, and for Cascade Mountain School at Mt. Adams in Washington.