Meet Our Staff:
Executive Director and Founder
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Maria Corse (pronouns: she/her) is a seasoned facilitator, mentor, and self-directed educational consultant with twenty-three years of experience in alternative educational settings. Determined to provide a safe, non-coercive, self-directed learning option in Northern New York where she can support young people to follow their interests and 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 in 1992. They returned home in 1995 to raise their two children, Ian & Kenzie. 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
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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 has a background in early childhood education, working in daycare before he joined the DRC staff in 2015. He spends his days at DRC mentoring the Seedlings Crew, helping to facilitate all the hands-on projects our kiddos dream up, and in the music room encouraging musical adventures.
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Lillian Jensen finished her high school career at Deep Root Center in June ’25 and joined the Staff as our Apprentice. She has a profound interest in reading and teaching, and plans on furthering her education once her apprenticeship is finished at the end of January.
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DRC Pop-up Mentor
Janine Dolley (pronouns she/her) our newest staff member is joining us to facilitate our Pop-Ups in the greater Massena area. Janine recently returned to the North Country after living in Florida for 18 years. She raised her children here and they attended area schools. She also homeschooled her youngest for a short time.
As a neurodivergent person, Janine understands that not all people respond the same to formal environments and methods of learning and has decades of experience researching and adapting to maximize learning opportunities for herself and others. When her children were young, she ran a licensed home daycare where she provided not only care, but a myriad of educational and enrichment opportunities for the little ones. As her own children grew, she found other ways of supporting them and youth in the community, including facilitating a successful youth group for many years prior to moving from the area.
Now retired and living in Norwood, Janine is joining us to again be present for young people as a Mentor and Facilitator. She brings a wealth of creativity and life experience and love of learning to DRC. We are excited to have her join our DRC Family.
As a neurodivergent person, Janine understands that not all people respond the same to formal environments and methods of learning and has decades of experience researching and adapting to maximize learning opportunities for herself and others. When her children were young, she ran a licensed home daycare where she provided not only care, but a myriad of educational and enrichment opportunities for the little ones. As her own children grew, she found other ways of supporting them and youth in the community, including facilitating a successful youth group for many years prior to moving from the area.
Now retired and living in Norwood, Janine is joining us to again be present for young people as a Mentor and Facilitator. She brings a wealth of creativity and life experience and love of learning to DRC. We are excited to have her join our DRC Family.
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 fur-baby, and one grandchild. Her youngest son was a member of DRC. Her number one priority is her family. She believes in advocating for children; especially ones that are not listened to or are 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.
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.
Susan Foster, of West Stockholm, is DRC's Board Treasurer and Secretary. Her first role will always be "Mom" to her four kids - all 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.
Kris Rozelle, (pronouns: she/her) is the DRC Board Vice President. She began volunteering at DRC 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.
