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 Gaye brings twenty years of experience in not for profit management to the WaterFront Center. Prior to coming to the Center, Gaye served for ten years as the executive director of the Land Between The Lakes Association--a friends group for a 170,000-acre national recreation area in western Kentucky and Tennessee. The property has over 300 miles of undeveloped shoreline on two huge bodies of fresh water—Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. Gaye graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in Business Administration and has done post-graduate work in architecture and horticulture.
Gaye met her husband, a New York City fireman, on a river raft trip through the Grand Canyon. Mark’s three school-aged children have become regulars at the WaterFront Center--attending summer sessions and volunteering at events. The whole family loves the outdoors and especially enjoys Long Island’s beaches, but whenever possible they like to sneak away to their get-away home in the Utah desert near their beloved Grand Canyon
Gaye and Mark live in Ronkonkoma in a log cabin--a rare sight on Long Island!
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 Michael grew up in northern New Jersey and started sailing Thistles on Lake Hopatcong at age 13. He spent time in Maine sailing daysailers and
classic schooners. During winters, Mike sailed lasers and sunfish in the Florida Keys. After working in the music recording industry in New York
for several years, Mike moved to Key West and ran sailing charters aboard an IRWIN 54’, COLUMBIA 50’, and IRWIN 68’. He also captained a
56’ custom jet-drive dive boat, and the classic schooner AMERICA, a 140’ a replica of the first boat to win the America’s Cup. In 2001, Mike began
running commercial ferry boats in New York harbor while working part time for Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club.
Mike holds a USCG 100T Near Coastal Master license with an Auxiliary Sail Endorsement, PADI dive instructor certification, and US Sailing instructor
certification in Basic Keelboat, Basic Cruising and Bareboat Cruising. Since January, 2004, the WaterFront Center his benefited from Mike’s
extraordinary professionalism, coupled with his wonderful sense of humor. |
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 Kristin came onboard The WaterFront Center in March ’05. She has been working in education since 1981, with diverse populations in a wide variety of educational settings, including public and private schools. Her credentials include Permanent New York State Certification Pre-K through 6th Grade and Art K-12, and she is also NYC licensed in Common Branches and Art. She has a BA in Child Psychology and Art and a Masters with Distinction in Multicultural Education, both from Hofstra University.
Kristin is an accredited artist/photographer. Her work has been exhibited and published in New York, Sweden and Italy. She came to marine science as a child. Her father, Dr. Robert W. Johnson, taught biology at Hofstra University for 37 years and was a dedicated and knowledgeable environmentalist, and her “uncle,” Dr. Eugene Kaplan, is a noted expert in the field of marine biology. Kristin also enjoys traveling, kayaking, catching big fish, walking in the wild woods, escaping to her family’s tree farm in Upstate New York, storytelling, reading and writing. Her biggest joy is her precious baby boy. |
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 Captain Pete grew up on Long Island but learned to sail in Maine as a boy. At age 14 he served as a cabin boy on a yacht in the Virgin Islands and it formed the direction his life has taken. Since then he has commissioned,
delivered, raced, surveyed and restored vessels of all sizes. Pete has owned or operated sailing schools for over 20 years and enjoys sharing his passion for sailing and its history. Pete has a Bachelors Degree from Franklin Pierce College (B.A.) and a Masters Degree from the University of Michigan. He’s inspired by the spirit and dedication of The WaterFront Center volunteers, and is honored with the opportunity to be Head captain aboard Christeen. For the record he denies rumors that “Pirates of the
Caribbean” was his life story. |
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 Jim graduated from Southampton College with a degree in Marine Biology and a minor in education. He has worked in the field as an educator for CRESLI (Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island) and on the rescue team for The
Riverhead Foundation aiding in rescue and rehabilitation of marine mammals and sea turtles. During his final year of college Jim student taught middle and high school biology for the Westhampton Beach school district.Jim grew up on the water sailing hobie 16's with his parents. He is a certified diver and a zealous white water kayaker. He has also sailed the coast of the US and the
Caribbean as crew on vessels ranging in size from 40' to a 125’.
Though he began as a summer educator Jim was invited to join the full time staff and has since expanded his position here to everything from website administrator to kayaking instructor and has been the person in charge of setting up and maintaining our over 400 gallons of aquariums in our main classroom. |
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 Originally from East Norwich, NY, Barbara has raced Blue Jays, Fireballs and Lasers as a member of the JSA LIS organization and has crewed on the weekends aboard Solings, Shields & Seabirds. In 1980, Barbara became a certified windsurfing instructor and taught windsurfing off of the beach in Bayville. “I never realized how much I missed sailing until I started working at the WaterFront Center”.
Barbara has worked for the New York Racing Association and on Wall Street. For the past sixteen years, she has been a bookkeeper/office manager. Barbara enjoys swimming, fishing, tennis and skiing with her daughter, Amanda. |
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 Melinda (Mindy) Pariser (formerly Mindy Gagnon) grew up in Anchorage, Alaska where her family was stationed at Ft. Richardson Army Base. At age 16 she moved to Vermont with her family where she completed High School. She attended Vermont Technical College and received her License in Practical Nursing at the age of 19. Following nursing school she attended the University of Vermont for three years to receive her bachelors in Sociology with a minor in Consumer Advertising. Throughout her three years at UVM Mindy worked per diem as an LPN in the Orthopedics and Trauma unit of Fletcher Allen Hospital. During her junior and senior year at UVM, Mindy also worked as a public relations intern at the prestigious Burlington, VT public relations firm, Kelliher Samets Volk. In July 2005 Mindy moved to Long Island and began working as a Client Staff Associate at the New York City public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. She worked there for 6 months before joining us here at the WaterFront Center as our Sailing School Administrator in January of 2006. Mindy recently got married on October 29th, 2006 to her college boyfriend David Pariser-Gollon. David owns his own Masonry business, Vermont Stone. They live together in Huntington Station with their 1 year old puppy Kenshin. |
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Lynn has been a resident of the Oyster Bay/East Norwich community for the last 15 years and was originally drawn to the area because of its
proximity to the water. “Working on the waterfront is the next best thing to living there,” says Lynn. She has raised two teenagers and has been
actively involved with tennis both personally and professionally. The Waterfront Center is a perfect place for her to develop interest in a new
sport with other active people. |
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 bio to follow |
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From the beginning, volunteers have been the backbone of the WaterFront Center. The WaterFront Center enjoys the support of volunteers who assist in everything from board governance to boat repair. In addition, the WaterFront Center is proud to have become the second home of a corps of volunteers who worked for seven years on the restoration of the historic oyster sloop, Christeen. Today the Christeen is owned by the WaterFront Center and many of the original volunteers still work on her behalf and indeed for the entire WaterFront Center. |
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