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| Press Release December 19, 2008 For Immediate Release The FARM Institute (TFI) has hired longtime Island educator Sidney Morris to fill the new position of year ‘round Manager of Education Programs.
The FARM Institute (TFI) has hired longtime Island educator Sidney Morris to fill the new position of year ‘round Manager of Education Programs. With the creation of this new position, TFI can better serve the helping hands of children and adults who are seeking to experience the dynamic cycles of a working farm; they’ll plant the crops, raise the livestock, and harvest more food to help meet the needs of the Island. TFI Executive Director Matthew Goldfarb says, "The students and families of The FARM Institute could not be any luckier than having Sidney join our staff. He is a dedicated and passionate community educator with over 30 years of experience working in a broad range of Island educational initiatives. He is especially well suited to help TFI grow as a learning environment that nurtures and cultivates qualities of civic engagement, creative thought, independent action and responsibility, cooperative effort, pride and integrity." Mr. Morris started teaching on the Island at the Edgartown School in the seventies. Nicknamed "Mr. Moose" by kindergarten student Prudie Athearn during his substitute teaching debut, Morris went on to teach in independent, public and public charter schools on the Island. He started the Sant Bani School, the Vineyard's only K-8 independent school in the eighties. After piloting the role of "project broker" in the Challenge to Change initiative at the West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs Schools in the early nineties, Morris became the first technology coordinator at the Oak Bluffs School where he helped escort the new school building onto the Information Highway. He was a co-founder of the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School, where he has worked for the last twelve years, combining technology education with outdoor adventures for students. In order to challenge students with broad experience in the real world, Mr Morris led trips that included farm tours while winter camping in Vermont to sailing expeditions in an open boat. Along the way, Morris was also a co-founder of the Chappaquiddick Community Center and progressed from starting its sailing program for kids to the creation of Vineyard Voyagers, Inc., an experiential maritime studies program for young people on Martha's Vineyard that builds confidence and character through traditional boat building and seafaring. Growing up on the Silver Springs Farm outside Philadelphia, where his father raised dairy cows and his mother ran a farm day camp, Morris was marked as a future farmer and animal advocate from his early days. His first child was an orphaned baby chimpanzee he rescued from an uncertain fate in the Congo jungle and delivered to Jane Goodall in Tanzania. He says he's always wanted to raise goats and won't be able to resist the temptation much longer. Another species that calls to him for local husbandry is the water buffalo, unfamiliar in the U.S, but already a successful dairy breed in Vermont. Morris is enthusiastic about joining the FARM Institute on its mission of teaching sustainable food production and land stewardship to all ages on the Island. He especially hopes to lure more teenagers to the promise of feeding Islanders with locally grown organic food as a challenging and fulfilling path to making a difference in the world, both locally and globally. To find out more about The FARM Institute and Mr. Morris go to www.farminstitute.org or call 508-627-7007 # # # The FARM Institute - Post Office Box 1868 - Edgartown, MA 02539 - (508) 627-7007
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Edgartown, MA (December 19, 2008)