A Good Will-Hinckley Educational Program

Glenn A. Cummings, Ed.D., President and Executive Director

In 2010, Dr. Glenn Cummings became President and Executive Director of Good Will-Hinckley, the historic 121-year-old parent organization of the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences. Prior to this appointment, Cummings served in President Barack Obama’s administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education, where he helped manage a $1.9 billion annual budget that focused on improving access to adult education and literacy training, career and technical education, and community colleges.

 
Cummings is former Speaker of the House in the Maine House of Representatives, Majority Leader, and Chairman of the state’s Joint Committee of Education and Cultural Affairs, where he sponsored the bill to create the state community college system. Cummings also served as instructor of micro and macroeconomics at University of Southern Maine and as Dean of Institutional Advancement at Southern Maine Community College (SMCC). While at SMCC, he founded one of the first student-centered entrepreneurial centers and small business incubators in Northern New England. Cummings also served as Executive Director of the Portland Partnership, where he built strategic alliances between businesses and high school students. A multi-generation Maine native, Cummings began his career in Gorham, Maine, as a high school history teacher and department head.

Cummings earned his Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania. He previously earned a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Brown University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University.  

Bill Brown, Vice President of Operations

Bill Brown, a native of Western and Central Maine, has 13 years of experience working with the Maine Legislature in a variety of roles including Chief of Staff to two Speakers of the House, Legislative Director and Senior Special Assistant for Budget and Policy Matters.

In those roles Bill was responsible for supervising and leading office and legislative staff overseeing all aspects of the state budget process, health care and legislative fiscal matters; developing, drafting and negotiating public policy; and securing passage of the Speaker’s agenda. Specifically, Bill worked on the development and passage of over a dozen biennial and emergency state budgets totaling over $585 million in state funding and drawing an estimated $869 million in federal and other matching funds to support statewide education, land preservation, transportation, R&D and environmental infrastructure projects through statewide bond issues.

A graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington, Bill lives in New Sharon with his wife Sarah and their hounds and chickens. An avid runner, Bill also enjoys triathlons, mountain biking and is learning to ski.

Troy Frost – Director of Education

Troy Frost has been a member of the G.W. Hinckley community for 24 years. He grew up in central Maine and graduated from Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield in 1982. Troy went on to the University of Maine, where he received a B.A. in Psychology in 1986. Upon graduation he accepted a position as Family Teacher at Good Will-Hinckley. He went on to become a teacher and Athletic Director at G.W. Hinckley’s Averill High School. In 2003, Frost returned to the University of Maine to earn his Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership, and became Principal at Averill High School. In 2005, Frost was appointed Director of Education, overseeing all educational programs on the G.W. Hinckley campus.

Emanuel Pariser – Co-Director & Program Developer

Emanuel Pariser has spent three and a half decades working and advocating as a teacher/counselor, administrator, writer, workshop presenter, and public policy advocate for at-risk adolescents – many of whom have dropped out of high school. In 1973 he co-founded the Community School in Camden, Maine. The Community School was the first alternative high school in the Mid-Coast area, and the first program of its kind to get state approval in Maine.

Pariser helped to write the legislation that established Maine’s Office of Truancy, Dropout and Alternative Education and serves as the commission's current chair. He served as president of Maine's Alternative Education Association and chaired the Substance Abuse Services Commission. He recently completed his doctorate in Education and Psychology at the University of Maine at Orono.

He also helped to found the Maine Association for Charter Schools, a state-wide organization dedicated to creating charter schools in Maine.

Lisa Sandy - Director of Admissions

Lisa has several years experience assisting students and their families in finding the right “fit” for both educational and residential programs. Lisa has enjoyed working in various roles in the Admissions Office at Good Will-Hinckley for 16 years of her career. She has also worked for Maine General Medical Center and the State of Maine. Lisa grew up in Central Maine, graduated from Winslow High School, and attended the University of Maine at Augusta. In her role at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, Lisa’s duties include educating potential students, parents, public school officials, and other community members about MeANS. Lisa has served as a Board member for a local parochial school and volunteers for local causes.

Jeffry Chase - Agricultural Specialist

Jeffry Chase directs the MeANS agricultural program. He previously served for eight years as Executive Director of the Herring Gut Learning Center in Port Clyde, Maine. Herring Gut provides hands-on, science-based curricula to middle and high school students. Chase also has worked with students who have different learning abilities at Lewiston High School and served as a Hatchery Technician at Muscongus Bay Aquaculture in Bremen, Maine.

Chase has a Bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Unity College, a certificate of postgraduate studies in business administration from the University of Maine, and a Master’s degree in education from Goddard College. In 2004 he was named Maine Agricultural Teacher of the Year.

Brenda Poulin – Ed. Tech. III

Brenda Poulin has worked with at-risk students for over 20 years as an advisor, mentor, volunteer coordinator, in-home support worker, and educational technician III. A majority of her time was spent at Averill High School, a former educational program at Good Will-Hinckley. Poulin also worked in the mental health division at Care and Comfort. Her strengths include a passion for the Personal Learning Plan process and for involving students in community service and volunteerism, including work in local soup kitchens and other social service agencies. In her role at MeANS, her duties include serving as a mentor to students and assisting the Agricultural Specialist with project-based learning. Poulin received her associate’s degree from Kennebec Valley Community College and attended the University of Maine at Farmington.

Emily Gribben - Assistant Agricultural Specialist

Emily Gribben joins MeANS through the Americorps program. During the 2010-11 school year, Gribben taught at Southern High School in Maryland, where she helped pilot the school's curriculum for Agricultural Science Education. She attended the Ellis Clark Regional Vocational Agricultural High School in Woodbury, CT, which sparked her interest in plant science and environmental studies. She has Bachelor’s degrees in Agricultural Education and in Agriculture and Natural Resources from the University of Delaware.

In addition to providing academic support at MeANS, Marvin is working to develop service-learning projects that encourage students to learn about the world and get involved in their communities. A Minnesota native, Marvin graduated from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN, with a BA in English Literature. After spending several years working in the sustainable food movement, she is looking forward to bringing her knowledge and experience to a new generation.