Meet Our Staff:
Executive Director and Founder
Maria Corse (pronouns: she/her) is a seasoned facilitator, mentor, and self-directed educational consultant with twenty-one years of experience in alternative educational settings. Determined to provide a safe, non-coercive, self-directed learning option in Northern New York where young people can freely choose their own unique paths, Maria founded Deep Root Center in January 2014.
Maria firmly believes that learning is an individual pursuit - driven by curiosity, interests, and aspirations. And, within that, education is a collaboration, which includes a supportive community, mentor-ship, mutual respect, trust, deep conversations, questions, hands-on experimentation, and playfulness. |
Born and raised in Northern New York, Maria left for twelve years. In that time, she earned a Fashion Design degree from Cazenovia College, worked as a nanny and then in retail (managing a cookware store) in the greater Boston area, moved to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and married her husband, Mike, (also from the NoCo) in Denver. They returned home in 1995 to raise their two children. She went back to college when her kids were young and earned a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from SUNY Potsdam in 2003. She also received her certification in mental health first aid in August of 2020.
A writer, Maria, produces a weekly blog post for Deep Root Center that sometimes includes an original creative mediation haiku. She has also written two children's chapter books - both of which have been self-published through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
A writer, Maria, produces a weekly blog post for Deep Root Center that sometimes includes an original creative mediation haiku. She has also written two children's chapter books - both of which have been self-published through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
Canton Staff
Christopher Raymo (pronouns he/him) is well-loved member of the DRC family. He is a musician and NoCo native who grew up in Raymondville. Chris spends his days at DRC mentoring the Seedlings Crew, outside helping to facilitate all the hands-on projects our kiddos dream up, and in the music room encouraging musical adventures.
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Junior Apprentices
Holland is a DRC Teen Member who joined in January '22. She has shown an extraordinary capacity for working with our Seedling members and will be helping again them this coming year.
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Acadian is also a DRC Teen Member. His kindness and compassion for the people around him guide him to be a wonderful facilitator and mentor for younger members. We look forward to having him help out again in 24/25.
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Thank you to Karen Gagne our DRC-Massena Staff
Karen Gagne, was DRC-Massena's Lead Staff and Mentor, (pronouns she/her) until the end of this academic year, when we closed the Massena Center to transition to DRC-Pop-ups.
Along with her advanced degrees in Sociology, Karen brings a great deal of wisdom and calm energy to her role of mentor and facilitator. She is passionate about self-directed education and depending on circumstances plans to be the facilitator for some of the Pop-ups. |
Meet our Board of Directors:
Tiffanie Jacob is the DRC President . She is a NoCo native; born and raised in Massena. Married with five children, one furbaby, and one grandchild. Her youngest son was a member of our DRC-East Center and will be participating in the DRC Pop-Ups. Her number one priority is her family. She believes in advocating for children; especially ones that are not listened to or unable to advocate for themselves. She is her children’s loudest advocate. If you need her, she would be there to advocate for your child as well. She has studied Early Childhood Education and plans to continue to grow her education in the Mental Health field.
When she is not tending to her family, she has three passions. First being Photography. She runs her own business in the Massena area. Her children are thrown in front of the camera when creative ideas spark. Her second passion is dogs. If she had the room, she would be running her own rescue. Lastly, DRC has become a passion of hers. Joining the board, she is helping bring ideas and fundraising help. She loves the aspect of Self-Directed learning, as that is one of the main reasons why her son was part of the Massena Center.
When she is not tending to her family, she has three passions. First being Photography. She runs her own business in the Massena area. Her children are thrown in front of the camera when creative ideas spark. Her second passion is dogs. If she had the room, she would be running her own rescue. Lastly, DRC has become a passion of hers. Joining the board, she is helping bring ideas and fundraising help. She loves the aspect of Self-Directed learning, as that is one of the main reasons why her son was part of the Massena Center.
Susan Foster, of West Stockholm, is DRC's Board Treasurer. Her first role will always be "Mom" to her seven kids - six are members at DRC-Canton. Susan is another native of the NoCo. She graduated from Norwood-Norfolk Central and then went to SUNY Canton to get her associate's degree in Business. She worked for the hospital as well as several banks and was the head teller for a few years. She has been a stay-at-home Mom since her first son was born. Susan has been deeply involved in supporting DRC since her children joined in Jan. '22. She is a welcome addition to the Board.
Candace Cowser, of Canton is DRC's Veteran Board Member - joining in 2014. Candace is a local entrepreneur who grew up in the Syracuse area and moved to Canton in 1994. She opened her hair salon, Shapes and Colors by Candace, in 1997. She is the eldest of nine children, eight girls and one boy, and was homeschooled from 7th - 12th grade. She taught for a major hair product manufacturer for seven years. Those who know her would not be surprised to learn Candace is a skydiver. She currently lives in Canton with her two sons, an outdoor enthusiast and a fifteen year old chef, who prefers to cook sans shirt and shoes.
Kris Rozelle, (pronouns: she/her) is the DRC Board Vice President. She recently began volunteering at both Centers because her passion is working with these kids. She is a professional mixed media artist residing in Norwood NY with her 3 cats. She serves a Co Vice President for the Massena Arts Association. Kris specializes in many forms of art such as painting, digital art, and glass bead jewelry to name a few and has taught both kids and adults for over 25yrs. Kris has written and implemented an art grant program for kids in the (NoCo) age 5-up for over 6yrs and an Arts Academy program for kids 5-up for 7yrs. Kris has exhibited her art work in galleries all over St. Lawrence County and Syracuse, N.Y. She owns her art businesses Kris A Lis Designs and Phoenix Rising Art. She has a BA in Psychology and Studio Art from SUNY Potsdam. Kris has been painting since age five and is primarily self-taught. She has a Master’s Degree in teaching Childhood Education and experience in mentoring.
Kris lived and taught in Queensland Australia in 2007 where the kid’s education was focused on utilizing art, math, science, character education and the older kids helping the younger ones. She is very passionate and believes that education should embody many modalities centered around the child’s needs and a safe environment to explore, not a cookie-cutter curriculum. She is passionate about teaching art as a modality to healing to people across all ages, abilities and walks of life and when she’s not creating or writing, she’s fishing or serving on the worship team at her church.
Kris lived and taught in Queensland Australia in 2007 where the kid’s education was focused on utilizing art, math, science, character education and the older kids helping the younger ones. She is very passionate and believes that education should embody many modalities centered around the child’s needs and a safe environment to explore, not a cookie-cutter curriculum. She is passionate about teaching art as a modality to healing to people across all ages, abilities and walks of life and when she’s not creating or writing, she’s fishing or serving on the worship team at her church.
Lexi Marolf, the DRC Board Secretary, grew up and now lives in Massena. She went to Massena Central High School and graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2022 with a double major in Marketing and Business Administration. She is currently the Children's Librarian at the Massena Public Library, where she runs programs like Dungeons and Dragons, LEGO Club, and of course story-times. In her free time, she enjoys relaxing with her dog Tucker, listening to podcasts, drawing, and playing video games. She also learned computer coding and has been gaining more knowledge in that field recently.