Aundrea graduated Cum Laude from Kent State University in May, 1989. Her job search took her to Billings, MT where she was employed as a Recreation Therapist in the new Deaconess Medical Center adult psychiatric unit. In 1994, she took a position as a Recreation Therapist at New Hope Rehabilitation Unit, a PM&R facility at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings. In 2005, she added supervising the Activities Program on the Transitional Care Unit at St. Vincent to her daily duties. She has been employed at St. Vincent Healthcare for 13 years.

She has been a member of ATRA since 1989. She has been an ATRA state representative for many years. When the ATRA Medicare Project began, she became one of the state reps for the project. On the road to achieving her goal of increasing leadership within ATRA, she applied for and was accepted to the ATRA Leadership Class of 2006. She is looking forward to continuing to work on the ATRA Medicare Project, planning and developing a potential Montana/regional ATRA chapter and future leadership positions within ATRA.

Linda Levine Madori, Ph.D. , CTRS -BC

Linda has been working in the field of Gerontology as a therapist for 25 years. Certified as a Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and a Board Certified Art Therapist, Dr. Levine Madori has developed, implemented and supervised clinical internships in both fields within the specialized area of aging. As a educator, she has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Therapeutic Recreation, Art Therapy, Aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Levine is currently a professor at St. Thomas Aquinas. She has been awarded the Senior Specialist Fulbright five year Scholarship. She has been invited as a visiting researcher and scholar to the University of Applied Sciences in Finland, 2005: Wakito, New Zealand in 2006 and Victoria University in Melbourne, 2006 -2007. Regarding her Leadership ATRA Experience: “The Leadership ATRA Class of 2006, was a year long educational commitment toward understanding the leadership responsibilities within ourselves and applying these leadership characteristics in the roles we assume to lead ATRA forward in the future.”

Yolanda Ruiz, CTRS

Yolanda was born and raised in Bronx, New York. She is currently completing her Masters Degree at Lehman College. Yolanda has been working with children and adolescents for 19 years in various settings. It has always been her passion to work with children and she is loving every moment of it. In September she will be serving in a teaching position at her school. Leadership ATRA has become a great part of her experience. This program has provided her the opportunity to speak to many professionals in the field of therapeutic recreation. Yolanda proudly shares: “They have passed down great knowledge and advice. I am proud to be a part of a great team of individuals.”

Mike Schooner, CTRS

Mike graduated from the University of Illinois with a double Major in Recreation. The first was in Therapeutic Recreation and the other in Outdoor Recreation Parks Planning and Management. He is one of the ATRA State Representatives for Montana. He is actively involved in the R.T. Medicare Project. He works at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, Montana. He works with outpatient head injuries and with the patients of New Hope Rehabilitation. These patients have multi trauma, amputations, spinal cord injuries, stroke and neurological conditions. He has worked for fifteen years in a psychiatric hospital for disturbed Adolescents. He enjoys fishing, camping, and spending time with his family. He completed the Leadership ATRA Program because he wants to give back to his profession.

Faith Stoppelmoor, MA, CTRS

Faith has been in Gerontology/Inpatient rehabilitation for most of her career. She has always enjoyed enabling older adults to realize that we don’t stop playing because we grow old, but rather, that we grow old when we stop playing. Faith states: “I choose to become a part of Leadership ATRA in order to help me be the best leader that I can be as I become president of the North Texas ATRA Chapter.”

Mike Sutherland, M.Ed., CTRS

Mike is a recreational therapist at the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. He primarily works with people with brain injuries, amputations, neurological conditions, and multiple trauma on the hospital inpatient rehabilitation unit. He enjoys teaching students during internships on a regular basis. He is the president of CDATRA which he truly enjoys. In his leisure time, he enjoys weight training, gardening, camping and spending time with his wife and cats.
“Leadership ATRA has really renewed his enthusiasm for his profession and he is thrilled to have met and worked with some really great people in his class.”

Garry Wolfe, CTRS

Garry has a rich history in recreation. He attended Penn State as a ROTC student. He served as an officer in the Marines and was in the Gulf War. Garry built an outdoor adventure therapy program that combined his masters degree work and his marine background, and his challenge program experience into one program, The Recreation Therapy Program at Desert Hills. He has worked as a recreation instructor for the TVI Community College in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He became involved in the ATRA Leadership class with the specific intent of finding someone that could serve as a mentor in a state with less than two-dozen therapists.