Scott Andrews (on sabbatical Fall 2008) was the founding director of Maine Coast Semester and led the program for its first seventeen years as it grew from a fledgling operation to one of the nation’s most respected semester schools. Scott is a lover of academia. His father was the headmaster at Collegiate, bastion of classical education for boys in grades K through 12, founded in 1628. Both at school and home Scott grew up with a strong sense of the importance of education and of teachers. Today he devotes most of his time to teaching history at Chewonki. With the exception of a three-year stint as dean of students at the Stoneleigh-Burnham School, Scott has been at Chewonki since 1978, serving as everything from director of environmental education to assistant director for the foundation. Scott grew up in Philadelphia and New York City, attended Wesleyan University where he studied ethnomusicology, and holds a masters degree in environmental education. Scott loves to flyfish, canoe, sing, and play the guitar. He lives in West Bath with his wife, Sue West, and his daughter, Margaret.
Paul Arthur spent his summers growing up on the Chewonki campus. Since then, Paul has been around more or less continuously as assistant director of the environmental education programs and assistant camp director. Today, he serves as the assistant head for Maine Coast Semester and teaches one of our English classes (Ethics: Understanding and Choice) and Environmental Issues. Paul attended Colby College and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Colorado. He has taught at University of Colorado and at Colby College. He is also a Registered Maine Guide, a canoe racer, and a guitar and mandolin player. In 1999, he and another faculty member kayaked from Burlington, Vermont, north around the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec and down to New York City. Paul lives in Juniper Dell on the Chewonki campus with his cat, Nous.
Sarah Burgess, Chewonki's Director of Dining, will begin her fifth year in the kitchen. Growing up nearby, Sarah spent time at Chewonki when in school, and worked for years in local restaurants. Since receiving her B.A. in Fine Arts from St. Lawrence University, Sarah has built hiking trails with both the Maine and Montana Conservation Corps and was Pastry Chef at a Colorado ranch. Of cooking at Chewonki, Sarah says, "I enjoy using our farm products, especially when MCS students are helping in the kitchen, since they have likely worked on the farm to help grow those products."
Eric Duffy is Chewonki’s Health Care Coordinator. Eric has been a Wilderness EMT and State of Maine EMT-B for more than a decade, and a Registered Maine Guide for almost as long. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in English and religious studies from Stonehill College, and a master’s degree in theology from Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Eric became an instructor with Wilderness Medical Associates in 2000, and regularly teaches intensive training courses in emergency medicine that has been adapted for remote settings. Meanwhile, he has been working as a sea kayaking guide in the summers, and an EMT in the winters. Before this he spent four years teaching English at Hebron Academy, where he also developed the outdoor education program into a daily alternative to competitive athletics. Later, he spent three years coordinating the paddling programs at the L.L.Bean Outdoor Discovery School. Eric serves on the board of Teens To Trails, an organization that promotes outing clubs in Maine high schools. He lives in a small lobstering village with his wife and daughter, helping raise a big organic garden and even bigger dogs.
Kelley Duffy joins us this semester to teach U.S. History. Originally from Vermont, Kelley attended the Northfield Mount Hermon School and then Swarthmore College, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science, with a minor in African Studies, and also completed her social studies teaching certificate. A passionate student of all aspects of social science with strong personal interests in travel and foreign languages, Kelley began her career teaching history at inner city schools in Philadelphia and Miami. She went on to teach middle school in New Mexico, and at American secondary schools in both Switzerland and Venezuela. For the past six years she has been teaching and serving as the social studies department head at nearby Wiscasset High School. Her work outside the classroom has included advising students in Debate, Model United Nations, and outing clubs. Kelley, her husband Eric, daughter Helen, and dogs Cassie and Orla, live in the small village of Bremen, Maine. They keep a large organic garden and regularly enjoy sea kayaking and hiking together. Kelley loves to sing and is teaching herself to quilt. A licensed Emergency Medical Technician and certified Wilderness First Responder, Kelley is also currently pursuing a M.A. through the Muskie School of Public Service.
Bill Edgerton has been with Chewonki as a cook since November 2005. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1983 with a B.S. in hotel management and has 30 years experience in the field of culinary arts. A native of Maine, Bill has worked in restaurants in New England and as far away as Utah. Before coming to Chewonki he spent 14 years as Executive Chef at an inn on the coast of Maine. His expertise covers a wide area of food preparation from pastry to meat fabrication, and he enjoys learning about food and new ways to utilize local products and those from the Chewonki farm, particularly when the students are involved. Outside the kitchen he enjoys winter climbing, fishing and woodworking.
Lynne Flaccus grew up in the world of biology and science—her father was a naturalist and professor of biology at Bennington College, and she went on to earn a B.S. in wildlife ecology from the University of Vermont. Today she is a passionate lover and devotee of avian, mammalian, and reptilian creatures everywhere. (Don’t even get her started on turtles!) Lynne serves as Chewonki’s head naturalist—a role that divides her time between training our natural history instructors, teaching The Natural History of the Maine Coast with Rhan , and directing the rehab for some forty to seventy injured animals each year in our rehabilitation lab. Since 2001, Lynne has been the primary trainer and handler of Aquila, Chewonki’s resident Golden Eagle, who suffered from a serious wing injury before being trained for use in our Outreach program. Lynne’s history with Chewonki dates back to 1988. She has served as an environmental education instructor, wilderness trip leader, and outreach director. Her husband, Greg Shute is Chewonki’s director of wilderness trips. The couple lives with their son, Kyle, in Alna, Maine.
Rhan Flatin teaches our science class, The Natural History of the Maine Coast. He has worked as a naturalist educator for many years in Minnesota, Oregon, Vermont, and the Amazon Basin of South America. Though interested in all aspects of the wild world, Rhan has a special fondness for edible aspects, unusual scents, and animal sounds. While in the tropics, Rhan directed the School for International Training’s College Semester Abroad titled Culture and Ecology of the Amazon. Over the last six years he has led numerous ecotours in Brazil and Peru. His wife Selma is Brazilian, and their son Samuel (4) was born on the banks of the Rio Negro. Rhan, Selma, Samuel, and Sylas (born in July 2006) live in Spruce Lodge on Chewonki Neck.
Bill Hinkley A Maine native, Bill felt right at home when he began teaching math at the Maine Coast Semester in 2001. He studied mathematics and philosophy as an undergraduate at Cornell University and earned an M.A. in mathematics from the University of Illinois. He taught at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, for two years and at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts for four years. When not teaching at MCS, Bill may be found on his farm harvesting organic blueberries with his wife, Amy, teaching math at the Maine State Prison, or grading Calculus AP exams. Bill, Amy, and their three boys, Max, Ezra, and Amos, live on their farm in Waldoboro, Maine.
Abby Holland begins her second year at Maine Coast Semester this fall as the Spanish teacher. She grew up on a family farm outside of Kansas City and became interested in Spanish and Latin American culture after volunteering in Central and South America with Amigos de las Americas as a high-school student. Abby went to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she studied Spanish and History. She also studied for a semester in Chile and traveled throughout South America fueling her interest in the language. Before moving to Maine, Abby taught Spanish at Nativity Preparatory School for Boys in Boston and earned a Master's degree in secondary education at Boston College. In addition to teaching, she loves coaching sports, leading outdoor trips, and teaching students how to knit. When not teaching, you might find her relaxing in the Great Plains, hiking and camping out west, on international adventures, or knitting. Abby lives in Hilltop.
Abby Huckel is the Farm Apprentice and worked previously at Chewonki in our kitchen. Abby is a graduate of Loomis Chafee and Oregon’s Lewis & Clark College where she studied sociology and anthropology. Abby also studied abroad for a semester in Ireland. Although she has an extensive background in outdoor education, today she is most passionate about promoting local sustainable food production. Abby lives in Betty Decker.
Don Hudson is president of the Chewonki Foundation, but also plays an important role in the Maine Coast Semester. Don was the first MCS science teacher and developed the model we still use today. He’s a botanist with a Ph.D. from Indiana, and a Masters from Vermont. His undergraduate degree is in French from Dartmouth. Don has been at Chewonki since he was a child (his father was Head Counselor), and over the years has taught in Maine Reach (a high school program that ran from 1972 to 1982) and the Environmental Education programs. For many years, he was a wilderness trip leader, and pioneered some of the routes we still travel today. In MCS he teaches a section of the science course focused on birds of the Maine Coast. He’s very active in the broader environmental movement in the state of Maine, and lives on Arrowsic Island with his wife Phine, and their two sons Charlie and Reuben.
Emily Irwin joins Maine Coast Semester this year as a teaching fellow. She will help teach Environmental Issues and Environmental Ethics: Understanding and Choice, coordinate the athletic activities on campus, and work and learn as much as possible on the Saltmarsh Farm. Emily graduated from Middlebury College last May with a degree in Religion and a minor in Spanish. During her final year at Middlebury, she wrote a yearlong thesis focusing on religious environmentalism, and is excited to share her passion for building sustainable societies with the Chewonki community. Emily loves to play ultimate Frisbee, bike, ski, read, and play outside, and she spent this past summer renting boats and hiking in Glacier National Park in Montana. Emily lives in Hoyt's Cabin.
Libby Irwin is our Admissions and Alumni Officer. She is a graduate of Deerfield Academy and Yale, where she received a B.A. in Humanities in 2006. She has traveled abroad in Greece, Mexico, Scotland, Ecuador, France, and Italy, and spent semesters studying in New Zealand at the University of Auckland and in London at the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art. In her spare time Libby writes fiction and loves to hike, sail, paint and experiment with new recipes in the kitchen. Originally from York, Maine, she now lives in Wiscasset.
Becca Kosakowski is in her fourth year as the Director of Admissions. She graduated from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts with a degree in biology. As an undergrad, Becca was a student with the Sea Education Association (SEA) and sailed aboard the Corwith Cramer where she was bit by the sailing bug! She spent the next seven years, teaching and working aboard sailing vessels on both the east and west coast. She recently left her post as captain of the schooner SoundWaters where she offered educational programs focusing on Long Island Sound and its watershed. She is very excited to be back in her home state of Maine. Becca lives with her husband, Todd, and baby daughter, Ava, in Wiscasset. She loves to be active; she plays field hockey whenever she can and enjoys any activity on the water.
Tamothy Louten is the supervising nurse at Chewonki. She received her bachelor's in psychology with a minor in biology from Simmons College in 1996. The following year she moved out to California and worked at the San Diego Children's Hospital. It was here she discovered she would be a pediatric nurse. She drove across country and ended up in her home state where she went to the University of Southern Maine and received her bachelor's degree in nursing. She began her nursing career at Maine Medical Center on the Barbara Bush Children's Unit. After gathering experience working in the hospital atmosphere, she moved on to work in the community as a home health nurse. She spent three years at Community Health and Nursing Services working with women and children in mid coast Maine. Finally, she ended up at the Chewonki Foundation as a camp nurse this past summer. She enjoyed the Chewonki way of life so much she never left. Her home is in Harpswell, Maine with her husband and two cats. Here she tends to her vegetable, flower and herbal gardens. When not practicing her green thumb, she can be found hiking the trails or jogging the dirt roads that wind through the town.
Willard Morgan is a naturalist with a passion for understanding how the world works. After a childhood spent traveling through and working in natural landscapes, Willard began an academic career in the sciences and environmental issues. While at Williams College, he conducted field research in New England, southern Ontario, Puget Sound, and Baja, Mexico as part of his major in geosciences. After several years working in the mountains for Outward Bound and other organizations, Willard resumed his studies in the Field Naturalist Program at UVM, where he earned a master’s degree. Before becoming Head of School for Maine Coast Semester, Willard directed the Williams College Outing Club and served as a lecturer in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at UVM, where he taught courses in environmental problemsolving and wildlife conservation. At Maine Coast Semester, Willard has taught Natural History of the Maine Coast and also coordinates the Work Program. He continues to study and explore the natural world on adventures with his wife, Jenn Barton, and their young daughter, Sierra.
Ben Redman is in his third year of teaching mathematics and coordinating Wilderness Trips at Maine Coast Semester. He graduated in 2001 from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, with a B.S. in physics. Before joining the MCS faculty, he worked for Chewonki as part of the Outdoor Classroom and Wilderness Trip staff. Previously, Ben lived on and around Mount Desert Island, Maine, with winter stints in Oregon, California, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Wyoming, Utah, and New Jersey. This summer he completed a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Instructor Traning Course in Wyoming, and he will begin leading summer trips for NOLS in 2009. Ben brings a lifetime love for playing in the outdoors and a professional commitment to leading students in the wilderness. As a teacher, he strives to give his students tools to critically examine the world around them and thereby gain a deeper understanding of it. Ben lives in Hilltop.
Amy Rogers has been a presence at Maine Coast Semester since its first year. She teaches the longtime and ever-evolving course Literature and the Land, and she enjoys it as much today as she did in the fall of 1988. Amy attended Princeton University and holds masters degrees both from Teachers College at Columbia University and Lesley College. She has taught at the Gilman School in Baltimore, Hopkins School in New Haven, and the Swiss Semester in Zermatt, Switzerland. Amy loves singing and leads our student and staff a cappella group, The Decomposers. She’s a spinner, a gardener, and a fine canoeist. Amy loves to travel and takes advantage of her summers to get to England, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, or Italy as often as possible. She lives in the Farmhouse apartment on Chewonki Neck.
Peter Sniffen joins us this year as the Renewable Energy Teaching Fellow. After a childhood spent in nearby Readfield, Maine, Peter went on to earn a B.S. in Geology from Hamilton College in upstate New York, and work on a Master's degree from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. In addition to his studies, Peter has worked as a whitewater raft guide in Maine, an environmental consultant in the Boston area, and as a deckhand on "tall ship" sailing vessels in Massachusetts and Washington. His geology research and teaching has included travel in New Mexico, Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Iceland, New Zealand, and Antarctica. Peter has most recently participated in a graduate program in outdoor education with the Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyoming. He is excited to return home to Maine to live near family and join the Chewonki community. Peter lives in Hoyt's Cabin.
Elana Snow joins MCS as a teaching fellow in English. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2006 with a duel degree in Psychological and Brain Sciences and History of Art. She has a passion for writing that she will bring to MCS in the form of a writing support program bent on helping students to improve both their prose and analytical work for classes. An enthusiastic artist and student of art history, Elana studied Renaissance art in Florence during her junior year of college and upon graduation she had taken every painting class that Hopkins had to offer. In her spare time you can find her playing music, both in bands and on her own. She spent last summer teaching psychology to high school students at Amherst College and brings with her an intimate knowledge of semester programs (she graduated from The Mountain School of Milton Academy in the spring of 2001). She is a proud native of Pawtucket, Rhode Island and spent the last two years living in Boston. Elana lives in Hoyt's Cabin.
Jeremy Tardif joins the Chewonki community as the Assistant Farm Manager. He was born in Caribou, Maine, but has lived all over the state, including Portland, Bucksport, and a town called Greenbush, where he spent two wonderful years in a cabin without modern amenities. He majored in Natural Resources at the University of Maine in Orono, with a minor in Philosophy. There he worked at the research greenhouses and developed an interest in agriculture. Jeremy was employed several winters on fishing boats on the Bering Sea. His last job as an arborist entailed using chainsaws aloft in treetops, an activity in which he still finds pleasure. He and his wife, Kelsie, enjoy hiking, strumming guitars, and cooking. They live in the Gatehouse and are expecting their first child in January.
Sue West has taught at MCS from the beginning. She originally taught Environmental Issues and Art, but since Margaret (now 15) arrived, just teaches Art and the Natural World. She grew up in north central Massachusetts, went to Lawrence Academy and the local high school. She has a degree in Environmental Education from Hartwick College, as well as a Masters in Education from the University of Massachusetts. She has taught at Chewonki since 1979 (Environmental Education, Maine Reach, Summer Camp, and an Environmental Education Practicum for college students), as well as at Hyde School in Bath, the Stoneleigh-Burnham and Eaglebrook Schools in western Massachusetts, and Winslow Junior High School in Maine. She is a beautiful singer, canoeist, spinner and weaver, gardener, storyteller, and a frame drum percussionist. Sue lives in West Bath with Margaret, Scott, Daisy the dog, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton the cat.
Marjolaine Whittlesey joined the MCS faculty as the French teacher in January, 2007. She is a native French speaker who has developed a keen interest in Franco-American culture since moving from France to Maine as a high school student. After graduating from College of the Atlantic, she taught at the first French immersion school north of Boston, L’Ecole Francaise du Maine in Freeport, and traveled the world as a Fellow on the International Honors Program Indigenous Perspectives semester for college students. This summer, Marjolaine lead a group of seven MCS alumni on a service trip to Brittany, where they worked with local French youth on farms and sustainable housing projects. Marjolaine enjoys theater, outdoor travel, and Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art. She lives in North Pasture.
Margaret Youngs is the Farm Manager at Chewonki. She graduated from College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, in 1996 with a B.A. in human ecology, and has lived in Maine ever since. Margaret first worked as an admission counselor for COA, and eventually focused her energy on the college-owned farm. Since then, she has worked on four diversified organic farms over nine years including Salt Marsh Farm. Before arriving at Chewonki she spent four seasons co-managing Mandala Farm, an organic horsepower farm in Gouldsboro, Maine. Margaret, her fiancé, Chris, and their dog, Jordy, live in North Pasture.
