“My childhood years were spent at Sipayik and I later followed my heart to our sister reservation, Motahkomikuk,” Stephanie said. “Living at Motahkomikuk, I woke to the harsh world of how badly the 1980 Land Act has fractured us deeply and quickly so I began volunteering to write a newsletter and hand deliver them to help get information out and to teach.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie was working with several others on the Passamaquoddy reservation to start a non-profit type of school at the same time that Cobscook Institute (then known as Cobscook Community Learning Center) was beginning to plan for a similar educational model. “I had visions of a school for our villages that was similar enough to Cobscook’s model that I felt I could put my efforts towards Cobscook in hopes of one day having a satellite campus with Passamaquoddy culture woven throughout. I felt like Cobscook Institute with its already diverse board could help bring this idea to fruition.” So she joined the Cobscook family in support of these efforts in the early 2000’s.

Today, Stephanie is enthusiastic about how our experiential learning model lives on. She reflected warmly on our growth over more than twenty years now, expressing appreciation for “the diversity you still have in people and in the classes/programs you offer.”

Someday at Cobscook Institute, Stephanie would love to see our work in experiential, trauma-responsive education models connect to the tribal school systems.