Brooke Thomson

Title: Kenya Program Director
Interesting Fact: A go-getter who apparently likes the number 9—after nine years at camp, she completed a nine-mile swim achieving a nine-year goal!

Brooke’s strength is far bigger than her stature; a natural born leader whose ability to motivate is both powerful and inspiring. Through a series of serendipitous events, in 2005 she joined our organization as the coordinator of the Youth Philanthropy Initiative, a Toskan Foundation partnership. She is a part-time student at the University of Toronto.
As someone who loves the outdoors and all it has to teach us, Brooke spent thirteen years working with young people at Camp Akomak, an international sports wilderness camp. There, she started the Adventures Leadership Program and was moved by the excitement and encouragement participants showed for one another. Seeing young people realize their potential and overcome their fears excited a wish to pursue a career working cooperatively with youth. As a live-in home care provider in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she has also had experience working with seniors or, as she likes to call her elderly friends, the “well lived”. Other adventures have taken her to Australia, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and Trinidad, where she was able to participate in wilderness hikes with the Trinidadian army. A teacher too, she instructed Western University’s kinesiology students in the Canadian art of canoeing. This interchange with academic life and hands-on outdoor learning was a clear reminder that the environments in which to create learning opportunities are truly endless!

The adage “good things come in small packages” rings true for this petite fireball of energy and enthusiasm. She never says “I can’t”, but instead will always attempt to try. She is intrigued and inspired by the funny thought that bumble bees fly not because they are designed for flight, but because no one has told them they can’t.