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Trailhead Trailhead Leaders

At Trailhead, you'll get to know many of Westmont's faculty, staff, students, and community partners. Below are just some of those people—the staff of the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts, which runs Trailhead, and the undergraduate mentors and residence life staff who live with Trailhead participants during their week on campus.

Meet Our Westmont Staff

Chris Hoeckley - Director

Chris Hoeckley directs both the Trailhead program and the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts at Westmont. His doctorate is in philosophy, and he's worked at Westmont since 1998.

Christen Foell - Associate Director

Our co-associate directors are a married couple, Christen Foell and Aaron Sizer. They came to Westmont from New Jersey, where Christen directed higher educational grant-making programs for a nationwide foundation...

Aaron Sizer - Associate Director

...and Aaron earned a Ph.D. in American religious history. Christen and Aaron are also associate directors of the Gaede Institute.

Thomas Staffileno - Trailhead Resident Director

Thomas Staffileno is Trailhead's resident director. Thomas arrived at Westmont in 2017 after working in residence life at Oregon State University.

Phoebe Wicks - Gaede Institute Assistant

Phoebe Wicks is our new administrative assistant, and a great first contact for anything you need to know as the program approaches. Just email trailhead@westmont.edu.

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