Organized and led by Emily Skeehan and Gloria Schmidt

Emily Skeehan has over 15 years of experience working on environmental issues at the local, state, federal and international levels of government, as well as in the private and non-profit sectors. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Policy from Middlebury College and an M.S. in Marine Science from College of William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science where she concentrated on coastal climate adaptation. Emily has lived throughout the East Coast as well as in Spain, Italy, New Zealand, and Japan and now in Portsmouth. She has served on the Portsmouth School Committee since 2022. Emily is personally commitment to advocating for healthier and more equitable economies, communities, and ecosystems by ensuring everyone has access to educational experiences both academically, socially, and holistically.

Gloria was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  She has a BA in American History from Cornell University, an MAT (Social Studies) from Brown University, and a Masters in Information and Library Science from the University of Rhode Island.  

As a library/media specialist in Portsmouth, R.I. Schools, Gloria developed a passion for sharing local history with her students.  In retirement, Gloria has become a local historian who researches and writes about the history of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Her blog, portsmouthhistorynotes.com covers a variety of topics from farming to women’s suffrage.  The Glen area of Portsmouth is featured in the blog:  https://glenhistory.wordpress.com/.

Gloria is on the board of the Portsmouth Community Theater and has written historically based plays. Gloria has served on the curator’s committee of the Portsmouth Historical Society and has been a docent for twenty-five years.  She is a volunteer historian for the Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee/Battle of Rhode Island Association.