Mickey Hardt

Growing up as a pseudo-metropolitan kid in Brookline, Massachusetts, Mickey always sought a good game of pick up basketball, new underground to hip hop tracks, and a good slice of pepperoni pizza. He dabbled in hiking, camping, and other outdoor pursuits, but it wasn’t until a college field semester based out of Missoula, Montana that he got hooked on mountain ascents. What started as bouldering and working as a ropes course facilitator blossomed into rock, ice, and alpine climbing for the past 15 years in capacities from working as a rock and ice climbing guide to climbing coach for middle and high school teams to serving as the board president for a local climbing non-profit in his most recent home (since 2018), North Conway, New Hampshire.

Climbing has played a huge role in Mickey’s personal development as a thoughtful, communicative, and inspired human. And it possibly even got him into teaching. Although he had been working with kids since the age of thirteen, he didn’t have a formal teaching job until working at a boarding school as a math teacher in Lake Placid. Since then, Mickey has taught a wide variety of STEM topics from algebra to woodworking to programming and robotics. Throughout that time, connecting with students through a multiplicity of content areas has always been his favorite part of teaching. Mickey loves having the chance to cook with, coach, and simply hang out with his students along with teaching in the classroom. In Mickey’s own words, he believes, “that student potential for learning is inherently linked to the communities and environments that we cultivate, exist, and learn in. These deeper connections can foster such great capacity for growth, and TCA is an incredible atmosphere for that. I’m psyched to be a part of it all.”