Todd holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Rosemont College, where he received the Charles James O’Donnell Award for Creative Writing. He also has a Master of Arts in English from Villanova University. Todd brings previous teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Before Black Mountain Academy, he worked as a wilderness field instructor at a local therapeutic program for adolescents and young adults. He won the 2023 Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council’s Ember Award, which honors his outstanding commitment to his clients. Todd shares that he comes so close out of the woods to us that you probably will catch a whiff of woodsmoke from his clothes. 

Working as a Senior Field Instructor at SUWS of the Carolinas, he learned to leverage his outdoor experience as a coach for young men toward becoming the best version of themselves. As a former field staff in Wilderness Education, he is familiar with many of the challenges our students face. Before his wilderness work, he completed his Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 2021, setting a standard and goal to hold students towards.

As an English Instructor, he brings a love for poetry and all forms of creative writing. Creativity and passion characterize his writing and teaching process. He has been lucky to find publication opportunities for his writing in diverse places like the Mad Poets Review, Off the Coast, and Philadelphia Stories. In his work with students, he seeks to embody selflessness and service. 

In his free time, he finds himself writing in a tent, in some woods somewhere; he has said, ‘When I come back into town, this is the place I want to be.’