About/Contact

24 year old college graduateBorn in Ventura, CaliforniaRaised in Ventura CountyCurrent address Carlsbad, California
B.S. Kinesiology (exercise science)
From Sonoma State University
Yoga instructor certified
PRETOMA Research Assistant in Costa Rica (2012)PRETOMA Project Coordinator (2013)

My name is Kayla, I am from California. I grew up in Ventura County, about 45 minutes North of LA. When you are driving up the 101 North and pass the High School who's stadium over looks the freeway with a giant scorpion painted on it, yup, that's where I grew up and went to school- Adolfo Camarillo High School.

I grew up dancing and switched decided to make a career sports change to swimming when in the 7th grade. This led to some physical therapy, which I based my college degree off of. I wanted to become a physical therapist up until the last semester of college, when I decided I wanted to teach biology instead. So, I have a B.S. in Kinesiology with an emphases in exercise science from Sonoma State University.

Where is Sonoma State University? It is a small public state school located up in the "heart of wine country". What I learned from living in Northern California? I like the beaches of Southern California, warm winters, and GOOD Mexican food on every corner.

So when I graduated from college my whole five year plan was suddenly shifting and I was taking things slowly, like a tortoise slow. When I graduated I moved down to Carlsbad, Ca, North County San Diego. I was back in the sunshine all year round and happy to have good Mexican food around me again. I had been working at a pediatric office in the billing department for about a year and was becoming a yoga certified instructor when my parents sat next to the Kings at a waterpolo function for my youngest sister and their youngest daughter.

Carol was getting ready to bring Courtney down for her second turtle nesting season with PRETOMA. They exchanged contact information and I started to look into the program. My thought process was that this looked really cool and will look awesome on a resume since I want to teach high school biology. I found myself moving to Costa Rica for three months in September 2012 to work with sea turtles. I realize now how lucky and fortunate I was that my parents decided to sit next to the Kings. Not only have we all become great friends but my once in a lifetime opportunity last year has happened twice in a row. August 2013, I moved back down to Costa Rica, this time for four months, taking over as the project coordinator for Costa de Oro since they had to do some last minute shuffling around I was lucky enough to get to be apart of this project again.

I'll make it back to school eventually to get my teaching credential, but right now I am a 25 year old living in Costa Rica working with sea turtles and practicing my Spanish. When telling people that I was coming back I was told "I had their dream job" or I was like "those people from the discovery channel that they wish they could be." I'll take that!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain