Cabot, 21, is from Nashville, TN, and is a junior at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, majoring in Finance. Cabot joined Moondance as a student on the Pacific Northwest trip in 2018, and that experience left a lasting impact on him. He is excited to return as a leader this summer, eager to pass down the same life-changing experience his leaders gave him. Cabot’s enthusiasm for the outdoors and his passion for leading others will undoubtedly create a memorable experience for his students.
Maggie, 22, is from Charlotte, North Carolina, and recently graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in Neuroscience. Though new to Moondance, Maggie brings a wide range of experiences that showcase her leadership, compassion, and adventurous spirit. She is EMT certified, played on UNC’s club soccer team, and volunteered as a youth soccer coach. Maggie also studied abroad in both Florence, Italy, and Dublin, Ireland, expanding her love for travel and cultural connections. We’re excited to welcome Maggie to her first summer with Moondance!
Springer, 21, is a junior at Texas Christian University studying Strategic Communication and hails from Columbus, Georgia. A proud Moondance alum, Springer took part in the Hawaiian Islands trip in 2021 and the Kenya + Zanzibar trip in 2022—both of which deepened her love for adventure and connection. She’s served on summer staff at a YoungLife camp and recently studied abroad in Innsbruck, Austria, further fueling her passion for travel and working with others. Springer’s energy, warmth, and enthusiasm make her a perfect fit to return to Moondance—this time as a leader!
July 6, 2025
Checking in from Kauai!
After an incredible week and a half getting to know each and every kid on our trip, we made the most of our time in the last few days. After our great day hitting the waves, and riding the incredible zip Iines over the beautiful landscape of the garden island, we gave back to the community through service. We traveled to the National Botanical Gardens of Hawaii, and there we were briefed on what we would be doing to give back. We started by cutting down sugar cane and weeds to help other greenery thrive, followed by harvesting the local fruits of the island, which we even got to taste. Stock was particularly good at cutting down the high-hanging breadfruit with the tool they provided. In the middle of our service project, we took a snack break and held a dance battle, where Wrenn was able to show off his impeccable moves. After serving in the gardens, we took our time to take a tour of the beautiful area, where Charlotte thrived in answering specific questions regarding the plants, and were rewarded with “prices” (prizes). After our long morning, we hit the road and stopped at a local creamery where everyone tried out new local flavors of ice cream and then hit the town for some souvenirs. We then headed back to camp, where we chilled on the beach, and Owen once again was able to show off his astounding boogie boarding skills, with Carlo recording on his GoPro. After a great day, we had a wonderful Moonup and went to bed ready for our next adventure.
An early morning was not stopping the group from being excited to sea kayak on the famous Na Pali coast! We had to hype everyone up by playing their favorite pump-up songs to get in the mood for a great workout! Once we arrived at the beach, we were informed how to row properly and safely. After getting out on the water, the group decided it would be best to start flipping each other’s rudders up to make it harder to steer, in secrecy, of course. Cabot attempted to flip Carlo and Kennedy’s rudder, but consequentially flipped his boat in doing so, which Carlo found hilarious! After arriving at the beach, we had a great meal consisting of sandwiches and fruit. The guys started to look for crabs, of which Joshua found he was a pro at. While the guys were crab hunting, the girls took the extra time to lay out and tan on the beach under the staggering cliff head! We then ventured back 5 miles, but fortunately, the wind and waves were in our favor and gave us all some boosts back. We even got to explore a few caves on the way! Once we arrived back at our send-off location, we drove back to camp to have a chill day after the strenuous kayaking adventure. The group got to hang out on the beach, take naps in their hammocks, and spend time together before going out to dinner at a local restaurant, which everyone loved! A few of us capped off the night with some outstanding shaved ice before heading back to camp, having a great Moonup, and getting some well-earned rest!
The next day we woke up and got ready for a hike across the Na Pali Coast. We drove up a long mountain to get to the Nualolo Trail where we met up with our guide and started on our way. On our hike, we played a big game of wavelength, and also all enjoyed getting to talk to one another and encourage each other on the hike. We got to take in the beautiful view of the coast where we had seakayaked the day before. We sat down, ate our lunch, and took in the view. After lunch, we began our hike back down which was tough but everyone pushed through and did amazing. After the hike, we surprised the group with McDonald’s to celebrate their hard work. We all sat in the parking lot and enjoyed trying some special Hawaiian McDonalds items. Stock and Carlo even shared a party pack. We then went back to camp, laid out on the beach, and played in the waves until it was time for dinner. Ruby and Seth cooked their favorite chicken fried rice again and then we ended the day with Moonup where we talked about what Moondance means to us.
We woke up bright and early the next morning feeling very patriotic on the Fourth of July! The crew got dressed in their matching outfits they had found the week earlier, with the boys sporting festive red, white, and blue Hawaiian shirts, and the girls rocking USA t-shirts. We headed straight to surfing, listening to our favorite country songs on full blast the whole way there. The waves were a little bigger this morning, so we got to show off our surfing skills and put them to the test today- we even got to surf under a rainbow!! Everyone impressed us with their stellar surfing skills, especially Charlotte, who was a little hesitant about using a shorter board but absolutely crushed it, and Sadie, who rode every wave all the way to the shore! After an awesome morning on the waves, we explored the nearby town of Hanalei, grabbing some Acai bowls and poke before heading back to camp to kick off our first annual Fourth of July Moondance Olympics!! LODs Carlo and Kennedy were our team captains, leading each of their respective teams through today’s packed schedule of events. We started off honoring our great nation with Fergie’s beautiful rendition of the National Anthem and began our first event: beach volleyball. Evie was the star of the game, hitting multiple aces to earn Team Carlo the first win after a brilliant comeback against Team Kennedy. Our next event was the dizzy bat, where contestants spun around a stick 10 times and ran down the beach around Cabot before tagging the next team member. Wrenn had everyone on the floor laughing after falling over and trying to run in a straight line. Team Kennedy pulled out the win on this one to tie up the score. Our next few events, wheelbarrow and the human knot were both wins for Team Kennedy, bringing the score 3 to 1. After a brief intermission, the next event was leader trivia, where Cabot, Springer, and Maggie came up with questions that the kids ran to answer to compete against the other team. Caroline was the star of the show this round, nailing the correct answer every time and showing off her competition skills lining up against and boxing out Joshua. The next event was a crowd favorite: the no-hands watermelon eating contest! Everyone could not stop laughing watching Owen and Charlotte absolutely demolish their team’s watermelons. Finally, in a tie-breaker round, our last event of the day was the exhilarating hot-dog-eating race. This was a nail-biter of a challenge, coming down to the wire between anchors Wrenn and Seth, with Seth ultimately capturing the win for Team Kennedy, crowning them Fourth of July Olympic champions! Our guest star Catalina (Cabot wearing a dress) awarded our winners their grand prize of Oreos! After an amazing afternoon, we celebrated the day and the trip as a whole at the banquet, eating at a local Mexican restaurant. We awarded superlatives and reflected on our awesome trip before heading back to camp to enjoy some fireworks on the beach, and sparklers, and conclude with our final Moonup!
For our last day together as a group, we had a slow morning with a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage before cleaning up camp. Wrenn sadly had to leave us early, taking a piece of all of our hearts with him. The rest of the group explored the quaint town of Kapa’a, walking around a local market and stores, before heading to the airport for our tear-filled, bittersweet farewells.
We are so grateful for this incredible group of kids these past two weeks, thank you all for sharing them with us! They are all such amazing people and we learned so much from each of them. We can’t wait to see all of the wonderful things they are going to accomplish!
Signing off for the last time with lots of love,
Maggie, Springer, and Cabot HWI 2A❤️
July 2, 2025
Greetings from the beautiful Garden Island of Hawaii!!! After an incredible start to the trip, we continued on our journey in scuba diving, but this time we all finally hit the ocean after successfully completing all the necessary skills in the pool! Cabot, Stock, and Kennedy were dropped off at the diving locker harbor to begin their adventure through the incredible dive spots of Arch Cave, and the Golden Arches-Not named after McDonald’s-as Stock made sure everyone understood. Our first dive consisted of diving down to 18 meters to see the beautiful sea floor which consisted of colorful coral and of course amazing arches we could swim under. Stock used his previous skills to stay buoyant in order to not hit the arch, while Cabot and Kennedy had a bit of a struggle keeping themselves from rising to the top with the current, although we all perfected it in the end. Our next dive was a bit lower, where we saw very rare sea snails nestled up under the jaw dropping Golden Arches, although we weren’t as excited for them as our dive instructor was. The rest of the group was finally able to hit the ocean via the shore, which was a bit harder than expected, as the waves kept crashing down on everyone as they made their way out. In their dive they applied the previously learned skills and even got to swim under a historical lava tube! Later in the day, we were all eager to hit the water once again, but to see the beautiful friendly giants, Manta rays! Carlo and Wrenn were initially hesitant to jump in the water with rage huge sea creatures, but ultimately found it as one of the coolest experiences they have ever done.
After a hard few days training for the boat dives, we were all able to finally dive as a group to get certified. The certified divers, Springer, Cabot, Kennedy and Stock were able to experience what it felt like to be up close and personal to a beautiful great white *tip reef shark*, which Stock named Jeremy. While everyone was underwater, Maggie and Sadie were able to take the time to work on their tans and rest, which is always needed on the boat. The rest of the crew were two dives away from getting their certification, and the last of the two the boys and girls split into groups with everyone taking a vital role in being successful! Evie was able to conduct a perfect pre dive report of which everyone was perfect! During their dive, Joshua was able to spot an octopus for the rest of the group to experience as well. After everyone had completed their dives, everyone got certified, and was told they were one of the easiest groups to lead from the dive instructors!
The next morning we had a slower go at it, because it was airport day! We had a large breakfast burrito breakfast accompanied by fresh local pineapple, which Seth kindly provided to the rest of the group. We then headed to the airport, and although it may seem like a slower day from an outside perspective, we sure made the most of it by playing our favorite game, “family”, where everyone picks a celebrity and the group has to guess who had who, and in the end Stock won! Once we arrived on the incredible island of Kauai, Cabot, Springer, Sadie and Carlo hit up Costco, just after everyone got matching bathing suits for the Fourth of July! Without Sadie and Carlo by our side, the grocery run would have taken hours, but they helped get it done in under thirty minutes, a trip record! We finally arrived at our campsite on the beautiful beaches of the island, where the LODS, Sadie and Carlo made tomato soup and grilled cheeses for the group.
The next day we hit the road for our first activity, surfing the great waves of Hanalei Bay! Everyone had an incredible time shredding the gnar, and Charlotte impressed us by getting all the way to the shore in her first time surfing! Here, was where we also learned about Owen’s great athletic abilities, which he utilized in doing an epic headstand on the board. Ruby, Caroline, and Evie took advantage of the gentle waves this morning and had a peaceful float on the surfboards while taking in the breathtaking views of the mountains. After everyone was able too experience the epic waves off the beach, we had a quick sandwich lunch and hit the road for Zip-lining! At the location, we were informed about the incredible landscape, where movies such as Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed! Everyone loved the adrenaline rush of which helped get through the scarier lines, and everyone in the group even went upside down on the pendulum zip-line! Halfway through our adventure in the jungle we stopped at a quaint swimming hole, where we all saw Joshua hit his notorious bellyflop from the high dive, and after everyone had a great time talking about it, because we had never seen anything as funny as that. After a great first day on our new island, we settled down when Seth and Caroline made everyone’s favorite meal, Greek bowls! We then had a meaningful moonup, and hit the hay for a great day the next morning.
We woke up with a quick breakfast to get ready for a great morning of serving the community at the National tropical botanical gardens! Once we arrived, we were briefed on what we were going to be doing, which was cutting down sugar cane, as well as weeding in the Breadfruit garden! Once we arrived at the garden, Wrenn got right to work by chopping down multiple sugar cane plants in order to preserve the surrounding areas, at which he did a wonderful job! For a quick break, we decided to host a dance party where everyone showed off their stylish dance moves. After a great job with our service opportunity, we rode to a small town to get some ice cream and shop, which was a great oppuurtunity to experience the local culture of Kauai! After a long day, our Leaders of the day, Wrenn and Charlotte, prepared burgers and dogs for everyone to enjoy before getting a good nights rest for sea kayaking the next morning! We have had an incredible experience getting to know each and every kid, and can’t wait to see what is in store in our last few days of the trip!
Mahalo!
Cabot, Springer, and Maggie
Thank You’s:
Wrenn- Dear Mom and Dad, thank you for the unparalleled opportunity to come to Hawaii. I wish y’all all the best and look forward to seeing y’all in a few days
Carlo- Dear mom and dad when I got to Hawaii I didn’t realize how much of a privilege it is to be here and now that I’ve spent time here I want to say a big thank you for giving me the opportunity to see new places and meet new people love ya and can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Joshua- Coming on this trip to Hawaii has been such a life changing experience and I want to thank you for allowing me to come on this trip. I hope to see you very soon to tell you all about my trip!
Stock- Thank you for this opportunity, I have met many great friends. Throughout the duration of this trip I have learned many lessons and changed many perspectives I had. I love y’all and cannot wait to tell you all about my experience.
Owen- I can’t thank y’all enough for your willingness and support to prepare and send me on this trip. It’s been an eye-opening experience and I can’t wait to tell y’all all about it when we meet back up. Thank you again. I love yall. See you soon!
Seth- Hey Aunt Chani! Thank you so much again for this amazing trip I’ve loved it more than I ever thought I would and I’ve learned just as much new stuff as new experiences! I love you and I’ll see you soon!
Charlotte- Thank you so much mom and dad for providing me with the opportunity to have such a unique experience. I have loved getting to disconnect and build valuable relationships with really interesting kids
Sadie- Thank you Mom and Dad for giving me the opportunity to do cool things like Moondance, I miss you so much and am so excited to show you pictures.
Kennedy- I miss y’all so much! Thank you for allowing me to go on such amazing adventures!!! I’ve had the most fun getting to know all different types of people and places. See y’all soon!!!!!
Ruby- Miss you guys so much!!! I’m so grateful that you guys encouraged me to come on this trip. I’m having so much fun and Ive met so many great people!! Love you!
Evie- Thank you guys so much for letting me go on this amazing trip, I am having such an amazing time and am so so grateful for the relationships that you have fostered everyone here is so great I can’t wait to tell you about it!!
Caroline- Hi mom and dad!! I’m having so much fun so far and can’t wait to tell y’all all about it once I get home. Thank you so much for letting me come on this amazing trip, I’ve made so many new friends and had such a good time. Love y’all!
June 28, 2025
Hey Mom and Dad! I miss y’all so much and can’t wait to see you soon. We’ve been on the Big Island camping and scuba diving. Stock and I with the leaders have been doing some amazing dives while the rest of the group is getting certified, and it’s been so fun and rewarding. Y’all would love it!!!! I love and miss you and the boys so much! -Kennedy
Hey mom and dad the first couple of days of the trip have been great. Kennedy and I are the only certified divers on the trip so far so we have been doing fun dives with the leaders. Hawaii is awesome. Love yall a lot! -Stock
Hey mom and dad. It hasn’t even been a week and I think this has been my best summer yet. I am officially scuba certified!!! Haven’t bonded quicker with Kids my age! Have a bunch a photos and videos on my go pro and can’t wait to show you guys and tell you everything about it. Love ya- Carlo
Mom, Dad, Olivia, Zoe, I love and miss y’all. It’s been a great experience so far doing scuba, camping, hiking, and swimming. Looking forward to surfing on the next island. Be ready for a headstand picture on the board. Again, love y’all and see you soon! Excited to hear what you’ve been up to! -Owen
Aloha everyone, Hawai’i is spectacular! Scuba diving is amazing and the island could not be more spectacular. I couldn’t be happier enjoying Hawaii. -Wrenn
Hi mom and dad, I miss you so much. I snorkeled today and saw a big pufferfish. Excited to show you guys pictures. Luv -Sadie
Aloha mom and dad! Hawaii has been such a great trip that yall signed me up for. I am almost finished with my diving certification. We are going to the next island in a few days. I miss you and will see you soon. -Joshua
Hi mom, dad, and vaeda!! Miss you guys so much. I’m having so much fun and my group is great. Scuba diving is so fun and the water here is so nice and clear. The weather is so nice and I’ve been wearing sunscreen. Hope the lake and Bernard are good! Love you!! -Ruby
Hi mom and dad I am having so much fun and everyone here is so cool I have the best group and can’t wait to tell y’all about it. Hope you’re having fun back home and on your trips I’m never coming home. Evie
Hi mom and dad I’m having so much fun this place is soooo pretty!!! All the people are so cool and nice. We did scuba diving today for the first time in the ocean today and it was so cool. Can’t wait to see yall when I get back and hope yall are having fun in London -Caroline
Hey guys!! I am having so much fun trying new things with some really nice kids . Everyone gets along really well and we are already close. I am officially scuba certified today and we will complete our first fun dive tomorrow. We went down to 30 feet today and it was such a cool experience, would definitely like to do this again. We go to the next island in a few days, and we are going night swimming to see manta rays in a few hours which I can’t wait for. Tell Elizabeth, Nonni, and poppy that I love and miss them!! Can’t wait to see you guys in a little over a week. -Charlotte
What’s up guys! Hawaii has been super sick and the water is amazing here. Scuba diving is just as cool and fun as you guys said it would be and I’m honestly having a blast so far! Next up on the other island is surfing and zip lining and tonight we get to see a giant manta ray up close! Anyways I’m enjoying my time here and can’t wait to see everyone soon. – Seth
June 27, 2025
Aloha from Kona!
We have had an amazing few days getting to know one another and exploring the Island of Kona! Ruby and Caroline were the first arrivals, and we loved getting to know them while also making friendship bracelets! After welcoming everyone at the airport with a pizza party, we headed off to our first campsite! The next day, the kids woke us up bright and early, ready for some breakfast. We made sausages and chocolate chip pancakes. Stock and Carlo even made one giant pancake with the remaining batter and almost succeeded in flipping it. We hung out and got to know each other a little more and even played with the camp dog, which Owen has affectionately named Priscilla. After that, we headed to our first activity, which was a tour of the Kona Salt Farm. There, we learned about how all of the salt is made and manufactured in Kona. We even got to go into a hot house, and Seth bit into a giant salt ball. We were then taken to a taste test where we tried all the different flavors of salt on cucumbers, tomatoes, and even on pineapple. After that, we moved into the kitchen where Chef Christina taught us proper cutting skills, and we all made our own salads with the fresh vegetables we chopped. We even got to season the salad with a salt flavoring of our choice. After that, we ate our delicious salads and then were served braised beef with a side of Ualu potatoes. And for dessert, we had papaya and bananas topped with chocolate tahini. We said Mahalo to Chef Christina, who taught us that means thank you in Hawaiian, and headed to our next activity.
We drove over to hike the beautiful Pololu Trail, where we ended at a black sand beach at the bottom. Cabot took the boys to explore down the beach, and Springer and Maggie taught the girls how to play our favorite game, “Shake and Pop”. The girls loved it and invited the boys to play with them as well, and everyone had a good laugh. We then hiked back up to the van and drove back to camp, where we had a delicious meal of spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, and Caesar salad. We ended the night with moonup, where we all shared what we would want our B+ superpowers to be and what we were hoping to gain out of these next two weeks together.
The next morning, we were woken up by Stock again and ate some oatmeal for breakfast. We had a quick morning at camp and then headed straight to our first day of SCUBA! Springer, Maggie, and Sadie dropped off the rest of the crew at the pool and headed to the harbor to snorkel. They saw many schools of fish and even a giant turtle in the harbor. The open water group was hard at work starting the day with a review and then jumping straight into the pool. They worked on mask, regulator, and buoyancy skills, and they absolutely crushed it. The snorkel crew then met up with the scuba crew for some ice cream and shaved ice to celebrate their hard work.
We then headed to Mauna Kea. When we got there we had a picnic with some sandwiches and then headed on a short hike to the top of a little mountain to watch the sunset. We enjoyed some Oreos and each others company while shivering because of the cold and then headed back down. We had a nice long “jam sesh” on the way back to camp. We then ended the night with moonup where we talked about our favorite animals and people who have strongly impacted our lives.
After a great night’s rest, we went straight back to town to drop off Kennedy, Stock, and Springer for their first boat dives of the trip, while the rest of the group went on to finish up their pool dives! Out on their dive, they saw lots of fish and eels and even an octopus. They had a great time getting to know each other while watching the spinner dolphins on the boat in between dives! On the way. To the diving locker, Evie was able to score a perfect score on the PADI final examination, while Owen kept up on studying, which helped him obtain a perfect score as well! The kids were eager to finish up the pool dives so that they could finally get into the ocean tomorrow, but today’s pool dives were, of course, vital to becoming a certified diver. The divers experienced their first emergency situation underwater, where they each had to slowly breathe out until reaching the surface, which everyone passed with flying colors! Everyone learned how to control themselves with a malfunctioned regulator, put on their gear at the surface, as well as how to become buoyant of which they will utilize every dive in the ocean! Halfway through the day, we all enjoyed a quick lunch before getting back into the pool to finish up. Near the end of the dive day, the kids split into groups to perform their own simulated dive! After all of the pool skills were perfected, the group headed to the beach to hang out for a bit. On the way back to the van, Joshua found a sweet PGA tour hat and decided it would best fit him, which it did, of course. We headed back to camp and enjoyed a delicious dinner of chicken fajitas prepared by our wonderful leaders of the day, Wrenn and Charlotte! We have had an incredible experience getting to know each kid and can’t wait for what’s in store between this amazing group!
Signing off!
Cabot, Springer, and Maggie
June 24, 2025
Hello Hawaiian Islands Families!
We heard from our leaders this morning that the group has landed safely! The trip is off to a great start, and we cannot wait to hear more stories from their adventure! Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next week! This will allow you to follow along with the trip. You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ
