David Byers-Co-founder and Lead Teacher
Prior to co-founding the French Broad River Academy in 2009, David taught for two years at Asheville High School, teaching biology and physical science to 10th, 11th, and 12 graders, as well as 9th-grade Earth Science. He has worked for nine summers at Camp Mondamin in Tuxedo, NC, (where he befriended Will Yeiser way back in 1990!) as a whitewater canoeing instructor, wilderness trip leader, and head counselor. He also spent a summer leading youth in the wilderness of the western U.S. and Canada for Adventure Treks, based in Hendersonville, NC.
David graduated from Asheville High School in 1992 and UNC-Chapel Hill in 1996. He spent a semester studying Spanish language and culture at La Universidad de Sevilla in Seville, Spain in the spring of 1994. David also completed a master’s degree in coastal environmental management at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in the spring of 2001.
Like Will Yeiser, he is an alumnus of Teach for America having taught middle school science in inner-city Los Angeles from 1996-1998. David also taught 9th-grade biology for one year at KIPP: Pride High School in Gaston, NC. He has traveled to Europe and South America several times, and led the Pura Vida 2008 trip to Costa Rica for Will Yeiser’s Spanish class! David has been trained as a wilderness EMT through Wilderness Medical Institute, and he completed a NOLS semester in Patagonia, Chile in the spring of 1999. David loves playing guitar, being outdoors, and he spends much of his free time hiking in the mountains of WNC. Click here to see David's resume.
