Meet the Board

Bobby Farlice-Rubio is a science and culture educator with more than two decades of teaching experience working in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Mr. Farlice-Rubio may be seen in his monthly “Star Struck” segments on Channel 3 WCAX-TV’s 6:30pm news show, on which he presents the latest happenings in the field of Astronomy. During his 18- year tenure at St. Johnsbury’s Fairbanks Museum, Bobby was the teacher for the Guinness World Record: “Largest Astronomy Lesson.” Raised in Hialeah, Florida from Cuban and African-American roots, Bobby is also an avid musician who plays in a local band called Tritium Well, as well as his solo musical endeavor, Bobby & The Isotopes. He currently resides in Barnet, Vermont with his partner and their three children, three horses, and three dogs.

Maire is the program manager for Green Mountain Farm to School in Newport VT. She hires, trains, and manages a team of AmeriCorps members who provide Northeast Kingdom students with access to food and agriculture education and healthy local food. She is also the consulting dietitian for the Northeast Kingdom Council on Aging, ensuring seniors receive nutritionally balanced meals and information they need to lead healthy lives. On winter weekends she is a ski instructor at Jay Peak. Maire grew up in New Hampshire and moved to northern NEK in 2014. She became active with the Northeast Kingdom Young Professionals Network and served as chair from 2017-2021. She holds a bachelors in biology and nutrition and a masters in sustainable food systems.

Dr. Stephen Genereaux is a family medicine doctor in Wells River, Vermont and is affiliated with Cottage Hospital. He received his medical degree from Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and has been in practice for more than 20 years.

Tom has a B.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Connecticut and an M.F.A (Sculpture) from Massachusetts College of Art. During his career he has worked in the fields of art, education, and entrepreneurship. At MassArt, Tom was part of the arts collective “The Revolving Museum” in Boston’s Fort Point District. Then, as the Resident Artist in Adams House at Harvard University, Tom oversaw the “ArtSpace” gallery, serving a wide cross-section of the university and local arts communities by directing installations, exhibits, and events. Tom taught sculpture and painting, and helped to coordinate the College’s Freshman Arts program. Finally, he conceived and managed multiple social entrepreneurship projects that connected the university’s sustainability and recycling resources with primary schools in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Namibia.  He and his family are new to St. Johnsbury, and eager to be involved in the life of the community here. Tom’s son Ethan (18) and daughter Maggie (15) are both students at St. Johnsbury Academy.

Kristen Huntington graduated with a BA in Art History from St. Lawrence University and worked in publishing in NYC at Random House, Inc. in NYC. In 2004 she received her Master’s Degree in Arts in Education from St. Michael’s College and is now the K-12 art and drama teacher in Concord, Vermont. She lives with her husband Tom and their three children in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Prior to joining NVRH St. Johnsbury Pediatrics in 2009, Dr. Josh Kantrowitz was a Clinical Instructor at Dartmouth College and Chief Resident in Pediatrics at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics. A graduate of Harvard College and Boston University Medical School, Dr. Kantrowitz lives with his wife photographer Cornelia Hasenfuss and their two children in Peacham, Vermont.

Rebecca McGregor has a Secondary License in Dance, a BS in Exercise Science, and a Masters in Education. In 2003, she developed the dance program at Lyndon Institute and founded the annual Vermont State Dance Festival. She also helps the VT Agency of Education develop and rewrite VT dance standards and licensing requirements, assessment tools in dance education, and advocate for arts education. Rebecca is a member of SHAPE and the NDEO. She was a mentor through the NDEO’s pilot mentoring program and now is a member of the NDEO Mentoring Committee. She also has given presentations for Northeastern University’s NExT Professional Learning Conversations and been chosen as an adjudicator for the NDEO’s National Honor Society for Dance Arts Award. Rebecca has received awards like Johnson State College Rising Star/Young Alumni Award, Youth Impact Award, VAHPERD’s Dance Educator of the Year Award, and David Dwyer Lyndon Institute Teacher of the Year Award. In 2020, Rebecca also was awarded a Presidential Award from the National Dance Education Organization for her service to the Mentorship Committee and work creating and pursuing a vision for dance education in our country. Most recently, Rebecca graduated as a member of the Vermont Leadership Institute Class of 2022 at the Snelling Center for Government and was honored by the National Dance Education Organization with the Outstanding Leadership in k12 Dance Award.

Married, mother of 3 kids. Originally from Arizona, Erin has lived in the NEK for over 17 years. She is one of four owners of Red Barn Brewing in Danville, VT, and currently works at Caledonia Home Health and Hospice in St Johnsbury, as a Medical Social Worker. Erin enjoys gardening, reading, community enrichment, swimming, skiing and anything with her family.

An ardent supporter of the arts, Paula Scavullo Kitchel holds an M. Ed in Education from the University of Vermont and worked as a special educator and school administrator prior to her retirement. She lives in Barnet, Vermont.

Shawntel is from a small town in North Carolina. Her interests in science, problem solving and animals led her to NC State University. There she earned undergraduate degrees as well as a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. Shawntel first visited Vermont with college friends while still a teenager. She had never before seen so much snow, nor had met people as genuinely kind and authentically themselves. Through the years she continued to visit these new friends, and in 2009 decided to move to Cabot. She worked at St Johnsbury Animal Hospital, which provided the opportunity to get to know many of the people in the area. Recently she opened her own veterinary hospital in Lyndonville, the NEK Community Animal Hospital. In 2014 Shawntel had a son. Her family now lives in Kirby. She is grateful to be able to raise her child in a small community filled with the same kindness that initially drew her to Vermont. Shawntel enjoys exploring the woods with her family. She day dreams of travel and hopes to find time to learn to play some of the stringed instruments in her home.

Bob Swartz has been a patron and advocate of Catamount Arts since its beginning, when it was showing Indie films upstairs over Luvs on Railroad Street, and then at “That Bookstore” on Eastern Ave. in the 1980’s. He served on the Board when Catamount moved to the Old Post Office on Eastern Ave, and resigned when he went on Sabbatical to Reunion Island, France, in 1989. But 12 years later he agreed to get back on the Board when he found that he was promoting Catamount as one of the reasons he and his wife, Pat, had decided to stay in St. J. for “retirement”.

For 27 years Bob taught English at St. Johnsbury Academy and was the founding Director of its ESL Summer Program. He has also taught in England, and Springfield College School of Human Services. Since retiring from the Academy, he has been the Education Resource Coordinator for the Area Health Education Center, planning and implementing continuing education and professional development programs for the health professions in central and northeastern Vermont. This is a part time job he still enjoys.

Bob and Pat have three daughters and six grandchildren who live in Maine, NH and VT— and who return most years for Catamount’s Annual Auction. They too enjoy the evening of delicious food and drink, sociability and great bargains.

Travel is big, for Bob and Pat. Visiting family, getting away for mud season, returning to England (Pat’s birthplace) and France (favorite foreign country), and exploring new destinations, all add to their happiness and enrichment. But attending Catamount’s and KCP’s productions and the Met’s Operas in HD, and a couple of films a month, and the Gallery openings—and more!— keeps Catamount at the center of their cultural focus. Bob was chairman of the Board during the move to this new building and the development of Catamount as the Community Arts Center. He has seen (and helped) it grow from one-film-a-week, and a handful of productions a year, to 150+ films a year, and 300 performance opportunities a year. Who can’t get enthusiastic about that?