I’m excited to announce the launch of Chewonki’s new Alumni & Friends Program. This program will invigorate and centralize Chewonki’s efforts to connect with alumni and friends from all programs through reunions, regional events, strategic communications, and more. The purpose of this work is to provide a strong foundation for fundraising and enrollment activities and to support Chewonki’s mission of challenging people to “build thriving, sustainable communities throughout their lives.”

Alumni and friends have always been incredibly important to Chewonki. They make what we do possible. They embody and serve as ambassadors for Chewonki. They often become staff members, trustees, advisors, and donors. They tell new families about our programs, which are largely “advertised” by word-of-mouth referrals, and when they are old enough, they send their own children and grandchildren to us.

It was alumni who purchased Camp Chewonki from founder Clarence Allen in 1962 and incorporated it as a nonprofit. Most important, alumni and friends bring Chewonki’s mission forward in their own lives by stewarding the natural world and building thriving communities wherever they are. 

Expect to hear a lot more from me in the coming months, as I seek input from alumni and friends across all programs to guide the direction of this work. Take note: surveys, focus groups, and volunteer opportunities are all on the horizon, and I hope you will participate! I look forward to getting to know you.

Best wishes,

Alexis Grillo
Alumni & Friends Coordinator

More about Alexis:

Originally from upstate New York, Alexis has been living in Maine since 2014. She began working in the Chewonki admissions office in 2017, where she helped recruit and enroll dozens of students for Maine Coast Semester. Before Chewonki, Alexis managed nonprofit art spaces and artist-in-residence programs in New York and Maine.

She studied studio art at Alfred University’s School of Art and Design and then completed a graduate certificate in nonprofit arts administration at Boston University and one in nonprofit management from the University of Southern Maine, where she is now finishing a master’s degree in nonprofit management, with a focus on cultural leadership and strategic storytelling

Alexis is also an artist and photographer and co-owns a small construction and property management company, Supermoon Maine, with her husband, Bradley. For the past year, Alexis and Bradley have been working together to completely rebuild a house Freeport, which they plan to call home soon.