Welcome to the 2018 Vision Fellows

The Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship is pleased to announce this year’s Fellows, each of whom has shown talent, passion and/or expertise in fields that are vital to the sustainability of the Island, and each of whom shows great promise for short- and long-term impact in areas that are high priorities for the Vision Fellowship program.

The goal and spirit of the Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship is to support Islanders who seek to enhance their understanding of the challenges to the environment and social fabric of the Island and to help them become effective leaders who work to maintain the unique qualities of Martha’s Vineyard for future generations. The Vision Fellowship program emphasizes the importance of mentoring, community building and knowledge sharing.

The 2018 Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellows are:

Hallie D’Angelo will pursue a master’s degree at the Boston College School of Social Work in the college’s Macro: Social Innovation + Leadership Program. During her fellowship, Hallie also will pursue advocacy training with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) coalition and will work to bring MIRA’s resources, workshops and trainings to the Island. For the past two years, Hallie has volunteered with the Martha’s Vineyard Public School’s ELL program. She has an undergraduate degree in linguistics and Spanish and legal studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Jill De La Hunt and Jean Cabonce will develop initiatives for community dialogue and action on core issues of racism, privilege, oppression and inequality. Their project involves training in skills to facilitate intentional dialogue and workshops that address historical and current racial and social inequities. Their project also aims to develop connections with regional and national nonviolent social justice networks that will inform Island efforts and create pathways for greater local involvement in the larger context. Jill is a clinical social worker and therapist with Hospice of MV. She is a steering committee member, program coordinator and chaplain for Island Insight Meditation Community; is on the board of the MV Social Justice Leadership Foundation and is a coordinating committee member of We Stand Together/Estamos Todos Juntos, a non-partisan community organizing group dedicated to civic engagement, supporting our democracy, rights and planet through collaboration and education. Jean is also very involved with WST/ETJ and currently serves as its communications coordinator.

Scott Goldin is pursuing a master’s in education through Lesley University’s Middle School Education Math/Science program. Scott teaches math and science at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, where he developed and implemented an initiative to remove food waste from the school’s waste stream. He is the Charter School Garden Coordinator for Island Grown Schools and is involved with a new Island project called MV Zero Waste.

Ryan Kent will pursue graduate-level certification courses as preparation for the APENS exam, a national certification test required to earn the credential Certified Adaptive Physical Educator. Thereafter, he will design and implement a vertically aligned Adaptive Physical Education program that reaches children of all needs, from all Island schools. Ryan is currently Special Education Liaison and Physical Education Teacher at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

Molly Peach Mayhew will obtain a master’s in marine conservation at Victoria University in Wellington, NZ. Molly is the Island Education Manager for The Trustees of Reservations where she leads a place-based education program that provides programming to over 2,000 Island students and teachers in grades pre-k to 12. She has realigned the program to focus on coastal studies and newer topics, including climate change. She hopes to establish a coastal education center on Island. Molly holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies, Environmental Nonfiction Writing and Spanish, from Middlebury College.

Mary Sage Napolitan will study Ecological Design through the Graduate Program in Sustainable Landscape Planning and Design at the Conway School in Easthampton, MA. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont. Mary Sage currently is the garden coordinator for Island Grown Schools and community food educator for Island Grown Initiative. Mary Sage’s goal is to use the skills she acquires during her fellowship to implement, support and share progressive and regenerative land use strategies for increased local food production and ecosystem conservation.

Peg Regan will organize and implement a ‘Master Teacher Institute of Martha’s Vineyard,’ a summer laboratory school for eighth graders and eight to ten teachers that will provide an opportunity to work collaboratively through a lesson-study approach to teaching and learning. The core of this model centers on a morning lab school for eighth graders which also provides an incubator for teachers to gather, teach, observe others and design effective instruction methods. This project will be in collaboration with the Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools to develop a professional institute to both improve teaching and to interest excellent teachers from off-island to work with our students and faculty.

Faren Worthington will conduct an Island-wide site suitability study for affordable housing development on Martha’s Vineyard. She will collaborate with Chris Seidel, GIS Coordinator for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and will establish a working geographic database for Island Housing Trust. She will conduct research and establish criteria for site suitability analyses and create metrics for diverse types of existing property conditions and types of housing development.  Faren is Project Analyst and Development Associate at Island Housing Trust. She has a B.S. in Natural Resources, Ecology Concentration from the University of Vermont, and an M.S. in Ecological Design from The Conway School.

The Vision Fellowship program also welcomes five high school seniors. These students impressed the committee with their passion and enthusiasm for their anticipated courses of study, and their commitment to the island, and their contributions to the community.

Theo Gallagher will study sustainable agriculture and will pursue his interests in organic farming and composting through Grey Barn Farm.

Joao Goncalves will study fire science. Joao is in his third year as a first responder and is currently serving as a firefighter/EMT for the town of Edgartown.

Rachaya Lane-Jette will study to become a physician’s assistant. She is enrolled in the high school’s Medical Assistant Program and has successfully completed the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital mentoring program. She is currently studying for her EMT exam.

Otto Osmers will study marine biology and aquaculture at Salem State University. He is currently interning with the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust and has worked with MVFPT and the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group on a kelp farming project in Menemsha.

Matteus Scheffer will enroll in the University of Rhode Island’s Aquaculture & Fishery Technologies program this fall where he hopes to learn the skills to perpetuate shell-fishing as a sustainable fishery. He will intern with the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group.

Finally, the following undergraduate students who were awarded two-year Vision Fellowships upon high school graduation in 2016, have been awarded second two-year Vision Fellowships, for their junior and senior years:

Marcelle Alves, who is in a pre-law program at the University of Arizona;

Connor Downing, who is studying earth and environmental sciences at Lehigh University;

Sara Poggi, who is studying exercise science on a pre-med track at the University of South Carolina; and

Astrid Tilton, who is studying photography and place-based knowledge at Hampshire College.