Julie Balsamo

Julie grew up in Pittsburgh, PA filling her time by playing sports, competing in speech and debate, camping with the Girl Scouts, and performing in her school’s concert band and marching band. She attended Boston University where she received Bachelor’s Degrees in English and English Education.

With a passion for travel and learning, and with the understanding that school culture and mental health are crucial in student success, she spent her years after college exploring various approaches to working in education, mental health, and the outdoors. She has extensive international experience, teaching in Pais Vasco, Spain, and Sydney, Australia. Julie has also worked in several non-traditional teaching and learning spaces, including as the head field instructor for BlueFire Wilderness Therapy in Gooding, Idaho, and a resident advisor for Blackbird Farm in Philo, California. She has also completed three AmeriCorps terms: rebuilding homes after Hurricane Sandy in New York, New York, building and maintaining trails and cabins with the US Forest Service in Cordova, Alaska, and tutoring, mentoring, and event facilitating at a youth residential psychiatric facility in Douglasville, Georgia.

Here in Maine, Julie taught English at Edward Little High School in Auburn and worked with the children in the lower school at North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth before moving to Chewonki Elementary Middle School during the 2021-2022 school year. As an experienced classroom teacher and outdoor educator, Julie is thrilled to find herself at Chewonki where she can be both!