The Common Wealth, Common Wisdom Project connects young people and depression era elders, allowing them to share experiences of entrepreneurship in difficult times. The youth and elders will share their stories through audio, video, photos and text.

The project sponsored by North Country Public Radio, is a community collaboration with the Youth Bureau, Office for the Aging, local Historical Associations, and the Public Media Innovation Fund Program at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Common Wealth, Common Wisdom Bios

Teen Members:

Brenna Rice

Brenna is a senior at Potsdam High School. She lives in Potsdam, NY with her brother, Liam, and mom. She loves English class and school newspaper, reading and watching movies, and hanging out with friends. Brenna is really excited to do this project, and thinks it will be both a huge learning experience and a lot of fun.

Chelsea Ross

Chelsea will be attending Clarkson University as a computer science major this fall. She is a distance runner who has lived and worked abroad and is interested in traveling. Last year, she attended community college and worked as a snowboard instructor in Vermont.

Jennifer Sibert

Jennifer loves traveling, has been to 49 states and lived in Washington, Maryland, Arizona, Georgia, and New York. Over the span of attending three different high schools she participated in varsity swimming, volleyball, indoor track, and lacrosse. She was the editor of her high school newspaper and yearbook. In my spare time she reads classics (anything by Leo Tolstoy), runs, skateboards, writes, spends time with friends, and lately, plans out her course load at Colby College this fall.

Kolby Weaver

Kolby likes to play and watch both hockey and baseball and is an avid fan of the Pittsburgh Penguin and the New York Mets. An incoming high school senior, he hopes to enter the journalism field after graduation, and thinks this program as a great way to not get lazy over the summer.

Senior Members:

Ruth Garner

Ruth was born in Massena, NY in in 1916 and grew up in the North Country. She comes from an extremely political family and held several positions as an elected town official in Potsdam, NY. She was the first woman in one hundred and forty years on the Potsdam town board, and went on to be mayor for several years as well. Besides engaging in politics, she has owned a hairdressing business, and started a funeral home in Potsdam. She loves to play bridge and has a passion for geneology, history and literature. Ruth currently resides in Potsdam.

Mickey Williams

Mickey was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1919, but grew up in Sherburn Minnesota. In 1936, she attended Barnard College in Manhattan, where she graduated as a music major four years later. She worked in various office jobs, and During WWII she worked for the Central Hannover Bank and Trust Company on Wall Street. Her husband, who she married in 1942, worked for the Watertown Times, eventually leading her to Canton in 1968, where she currently resides. She worked at the Public Relations Office at St. Lawrence until 1984 until she retired. She has four children, four grandchildren, and six great grand children.

Bill Cullen

Bill is 90 has lived and worked in the North Country for most of his life. He has taught school in Westville, Ellenburg, Chateaugay, and Potsdam, and flew in the Air Force during World War 2. Mr. Cullen is happily married with a wonderful family.

Ann Huntley

Ann was born on the Howardville Road just outside of Canton in 1934 where she grew up with seven brothers and a sister. Her father owned his own mechanic shop to support the family until his death in 1947. Her mother, having solely been a housewife, began cleaning the home of St. Lawrence University's president during the day and earning her teaching degree at SUNY Potsdam during the evenings. She spent much of her time taking care of her younger siblings while her mother was at work. She also found a job working at her neighbor's farm, where she met and later married Roger Huntley, making this farm her and Roger's home.

Roger Huntley

Roger, born and raised in Crary Mills in 1928, attended Canton High School where he played football, basketball, baseball and ran track. After graduating Roger chose to farm as the sixth generation. In addition to farming Roger became a successful auctioneer for fifty year having officially proctored his final auction this July. Ann and Roger Huntley have been married fifty-seven years.

Team leaders:

Gregory Warner

Gregory was a staff host and reporter and resident accordionist at North Country Public Radio for two years before receiving a fellowship to report in Afghanistan. He has spent the last two years reporting in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and DR Congo. Gregory's stories have aired on This American Life, Radiolab and other programs. Among other awards, he won the 2008 Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society for Professional Journalists.

Laura Starecheski

Laura produces audio for public radio, museums, magazines and other outlets. She has taught audio production to students ages 13 through 65, and is a professor at the City University of New York. Laura has been a teaching artist with the Student Press Initiative, where she produced audio components for the book Speak to Us of Work: Bronx Oral Histories. She won a Third Coast Silver Award for Best Documentary in 2006 for her story "Goat on a Cow", which aired on WNYC's Radio Lab.

Michael Sauter

Michael is currently employed by NCPR as a part-time web assistant and works on the Common Wealth, Common Wisdom project as an associate and multimedia aid. Michael recently graduated from Hobart College with degrees in Public Policy and Philosophy.