Events

John Mackey and Diane Mackey

John

John Mackey was raised in Stephenville and Tyler, Texas, where he developed a life-long love of the outdoors.

He graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Wildlife Biology but started working with youth in an outdoor education program in south Texas. The blend of outdoors and science led him to an M.A. in Outdoor Experiential Education from University of Northern Colorado, and eventually to a position as co-camp director at Colorado Lions Camp. There he met Diane Mackey. After they were married, they moved to California where John began teaching Middle School Science in West Covina.

Diane and John moved to Austin in 1985. John continued to teach science at the middle school level until 2012. In that year he and Diane founded the Adventurers Academy of Lifelong Learning, dedicated to helping adults with intellectual disabilities become more independent and connect with their communities.

Diane

Diane Mackey grew up in West Allis, Wisconsin. She faced challenges as a student with a visual disability. She has worked with children and adults with special needs for four decades.

She graduated from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse with a teaching certificate and a degree in adapted physical education. She taught and coached at St. Johns School for the Deaf in Milwaukee and Los Angeles County Schools.

Diane began a lifelong love of camps and outdoor education as a camper, and later as counselor, at Wisconsin Lions Camp. She later worked at Colorado Lions Camp in summers and later as full-time Program Director. There she met her husband-to-be, John. When they moved to California, Diane taught adaptive physical education in the LA County Schools.

From California, Diane and John moved to Austin, where they have resided since 1985. Diane taught Adapted Physical Education and Special Education Life Skills in Austin ISD and began to organize frequent extracurricular programs for her students, which developed into a group called “The Adventurers”. She has been named Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year for the state of Texas and twice was honored as AISD Middle School Teacher of the Year. Her Life Skills program at Bedichek Middle School in south Austin became well known and sought after by parents of students. As students moved on from her middle school class, they returned to join her and her current students for outings and extended overnight trips.

Diane retired from the district in 2012 to pursue what had become a lifelong dream: to open a program that encouraged the development of greater independence of adults with special needs, after they transitioned from the public education system. Now the Academy is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to help adults with intellectual disabilities in the Austin area connect with the community, develop lifelong independence and achieve their full potential.