WTF!: Skill Set Winter 2021 Online Retreat
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WORKSHOPS:
View the full retreat schedule and workshop descriptions here. |
OVERVIEW
A core goal of the Rowe Center’s Skill Set Retreat has always been to help better prepare young people for life after school, sharing skills, reflections, and suggestions for how best to navigate the world around us. And yet, as we face a global pandemic, widespread climate disasters, continuing racial and social injustices, and so many more crises, many of us are likely feeling woefully unprepared for how to deal with the uncertainty and anxiety of the current moment. So, for our very first ever virtual Skill Set Retreat, we came together to ask WTF??? We spent four days online coming together to Come online with us to connect and learn and talk about all of the things happening around us and to us. We discussed how we are processing everything (or not), and how we can take care of ourselves and each other while still working to build a future and a world we believe in. |
Meet Our Amazing Facilitators!
Arya Samuelson (she/her) is a writer who has worked in many fields, including social work, sexual violence advocacy, synagogues, and social justice grant writing. Arya is the winner of CutBank’s 2019 Montana Prize in Non-Fiction, awarded by Cheryl Strayed, and her work has also been published in New Delta Review, Entropy, The Millions, and Hematopoiesis Press. She is a proud graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing Program from Mills College and has been studying at Lidia Yuknavitch’s school of Corporeal Writing since 2017. Since the beginning of COVID-19, Arya has been teaching online writing classes about Writing as Ritual and has been honored to witness the transformations writing has catalyzed for her students. Arya is a newcomer to Northampton, MA, and in her free time, she loves singing, studying somatic therapies, and scouting out adorable dogs. You can find out more at www.aryasamuelson.com.
Genevieve Smith (she/her/they/them) is a social change and organizational behavior expert. They work with social impact organizations, startups, and leaders to understand the 'so what?' of social impact—are we truly making a positive change? Are the folx impacted by these changes involved in decision-making? Genevieve is obsessed with collaborative approaches to building equitable systems and worlds. Through their unique frameworks, empathetic leadership, and curiosity, Genevieve pushes for better.
Marisa Hope Benson (she/her) is an embodiment coach who guides people through somatic practices and sound healing to invite in transformation. She has a BS in Movement Sciences, is a yoga teacher (200hr YTT), a Reiki practitioner (Level II), and most recently has been exploring sound, song and the power of voice. In the spring of 2020 she enrolled in an Empowered Voice program by (Emma Rose Lynn) which has deepened her vocal play and exploration. She looks forward to sharing many of the teachings and wisdom she has learned with you in her workshop!
Max Binder (they/them) is a long-time Rowie and a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. They are inspired by the interconnectedness of all being and find hope in contradiction. Max is also a multidisciplinary artist and dilettante currently trying to Write Professionally.
Michelle Huber (she/her) is a Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement Teacher® and Circling facilitator in Northampton, MA. She teaches Feldenkrais and Circling currently online. She delights in the discovery of unconscious patterns of human behavior and is fascinated by the never-ending connections of body, emotions, mind and the collective. She is dedicated to increasing awareness, learning to open her heart and supporting others in opening. She also teaches movement, Peer Counseling and Spanish. Michelle attended and worked at Rowe Camp from 1998-2008. You can learn more at michellehuber.me.
Robin Cornell (he/him) is a long-time Rowe summer camp counselor and Skill Set attendee. He is currently an MBA candidate at the Sustainable Innovation MBA program at the University of Vermont. His professional interests include personal finance literary, ESG portfolio development and employee-owned businesses. Robin has also worked in placed based education at Strawtown Studio in the Hudson Valley and Shelburne Farms in Vermont. His hobbies are Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu reading and cooking.
Zelda Gay (she/her) is the CEO of Self Offense in Brooklyn, NY. She has a second degree black belt in traditional Japanese Oyama Karate and 10 years of martial arts experience. She graduated from Fiorello H. Laguardia High School (The Fame School) with a degree in drama and went on to study Theatre Studies and Stage Combat at Emerson College where she obtained her degree. Zelda works as an actor and a free lance fight choreographer. When not creating art, Zelda is a competitive fighter and an instructor at her family's karate dojo.
Learn more about Self Offense! From their website: "We are fighting for everyone in the world to be safe. We offer uniquely relevant and life-altering workshops that grant participants newfound freedom and the ability to own their power. Our program engages people in their own lives and coaches them to see what has previously been hidden from their view. It shifts each person’s experience of safety in the world, from defense and reaction to ownership and power, transforming the culture around sexual assault and sexual harassment as a whole."
