Frank Domenico Cipriani

BA, Linguistics SUNY Stony Brook
BA Hispanic Languages and Literature, SUNY Stony Brook
MA TESOL, SUNY Stony Brook

Language experience:
Speaks several languages, including English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, German and one Endangered Tribal language. Has studied Japanese, Chinese and Russian.

Authored one book in Spanish, Quien va a Escribir Este Libro, published by Tu Llave, Buenos Aires, Argentina 1987.

Included in a compilation of the best short stories of 1988, Para Todos, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Founder and CEO of LILAS, a language service company providing translation and instruction services in most world languages, and operated the business in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1983-1988.

President of the International Student's Dormitory Stage XII-Stimson Dorm, 1981-82.

Attended High School in Buenos Aires, Berlin, and US, by creating his own informal international exchange student program.

Language-Related Program experience:
Helped create a special program for At-Risk high school students, and provided bilingual GED instruction and job creation for the program.

Taught AP Spanish as long-term substitute in the Hastings-On-The-Hudson UFSD, successfully applying mnemonics and Learning Community approach to the study of Spanish.

Organizational Experience:
As Evening Administrator for the LI Educational Opportunity Center in Hempstead, LI, created a certification program for at-home daycare providers, at no cost to the EOC.

Created a library for LIEOC, at no cost to the center.

Created an Entrepreneurship program for the LIEOC. Although the program was never fully implemented by the director, the networking brought the Small Business Development Administration on-site.

Taught Accent Improvement to University Professors through the Learning Center at SUNY Farmingdale.

Editor-In-Chief of the pubication, El Aleph, published by
SUNY Stony Book, 1981-82.


 























































ABOUT US

FRANK CIPRIANI, Founder and President

Frank Cipriani is a linguist, a scholar and an educator, an author, a naturalist, and a tracker (Tom Brown's Tracker School). As he comes into contact with other people, especially those he considers to be "at risk," he creates libraries and programs to improve their situations. When vandals burned his forest meeting house, he tracked them down and taught them to respect their environment. Those boys joined Frank's youth programs and are now helping to rebuild the structure.

Read about "How We Started: the 88-Acre Project."

Frank has a Masters degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), a BA in Linguistics and a BA in Hispanic language. He speaks English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, German, and one endangered tribal language, with an understanding of Hebrew, Chinese, and Russian. Basically, he has two missions: One is to rebalance the environment and protect wildlife. The other is to rehabilitate humans suffering from the stresses of civilization and return them to Nature. He has a simple creed: OUTDOORS, GOOD; INDOORS, BAD!

Frank's first accomplishment was to have 88 acres set aside in South Toms River, New Jersey, for the preservation of wildlife and to teach children how to respect themselves, each other, and their environment. Other offerings the Institute has developed include women's groups, peer counseling, anti-drug and domestic counseling, anger-management classes, leadership dynamics, a summer camp, immersion in foreign languages and their cultures, entrepreneurships, learning survival skills and playing "Manhunt", and building wigwams and a fort.

In accordance with Frank's plan to rehabilitate humans born in "captivity" and release them to the wild, he brings naturalists into the woods and all activities take place out of doors in the 88 Acres Park. Frank uses this name for the land in the hopes it will remind everyone, including politicians, exactly how much land is supposed to be there. In this way, he believes no one will be able to parcel off portions for other purposes.

Frank's strategy is to teach people how to survive and enjoy a more natural life, under what most of us would term primitive conditions.

Humankind’s existence should benefit the environment and the very nature of the way we live should lend itself to that. Frank shows young people how to create a primitive environment, such as the fort, with their own hands and bring their laptops into those huts.

In Frank's Entreupreneurship programs, youngsters learn to run zero environmental impact businesses. He believes all people can raise their own money by using wireless resources in the woods. In this way, terms of pay and overhead costs are minimized, and people would prosper. Since each business must has its own disciplines in order to work, The Gatherer Institute teaches how important it is to have good English, math, and phone skills, and to be polite and articulate when dealing with customers.

These fort/hut/center house structures are designed to be built, utilized, and then grow old and die. As the natural material on the sides of the huts age, it is unable to stay on the walls. It is then raked up and put into sandy areas of the ground to renew the earth.

This type of structure is made of dead, standing cedar cut from a cedar swamp. Frank will only take what is beneficial to the forest. Living trees are never used and if enough dead cedar cannot be found, building halts until the situation changes.

Frank feels nothing should be killed unless you are going to eat it and questions as to whether, in the greater scheme of things, a person’s existence is really more important than that of an animal or a tree. Scientists have raised this question before, most recently when African wild areas were encroached upon; the question was posed as to whether the survival of an elephant's life shouldn't be considered equal to that of a human.

Frank points out that when damage is caused to the environment, it is not the problem; it is only the symptom. Rather, it is the human action that caused the damage that is the problem.

Frank says, "There is no such thing as a weed." He finds troubled, at-risk people, especially children, brings them together, and treats them with respect.

Frank feels the best approach is to teach non-violence in every respect. He educates people, gives them a sense of purpose, and provides entertainment that is also a learning experience. Most recently, he has introduced Native American storytellers, performers, and musicians to Tuesday night's entertainment, as Native people are traditionally Keepers of the Earth and Keepers of the Animals. Bringing people of different backgrounds and temperaments together at these gatherings gives everyone a chance to come together, talk and share ideas. He also has a knack for finding the talent and funding he needs to make his plans work.


(the above text was adapted from an article, "Rainbow Warriors," written by LOUISE "WIND WALKS WOMAN" BARTON - Cherokee/Mohawk)


CHERYL KOERNER , Vice President

"I first heard of the Gatherer Institute when I was sixteen years old. I loved animals, camp and wilderness survival, and was excited that The Gatherer Institute would offer a camp that dealt with precisely these skills. The idea of being able to get fire from a bow drill gave me a feeling of power in the wilderness that I had never experienced before. My instructor, Mr. Matt was very cool. He was very laid-back, very self-teaching, nothing like any teacher I'd ever had before. I was also invited to participate in the Women's program which gave me strength and made me more independent.

Over the years, the Gatherer Institute sent me to the Tom Brown Tracker School, introduced me to a wide variety of people from all walks of life, and taught me enough about leadership that it was natural for me to take a leadership position in the organization.

The Gatherer Institute has worked with many individuals, both young and old, from many walks of life, individuals leave with a knowledge and confidence they never before possessed, and sensitivity to cultural diversity, and the universal sense of play that transcends culture and time."

- Cheryl Koerner


MATT HOLLEN, Master Teacher

We are privileged to have as our head instructor Matt Hollen. Since the age of 13, Matt has been practicing wilderness skills, camping, rock climbing and studying nature. Matt is currently a Caretaker for Tom Brown's Tracker School, Nature and Wilderness Survival, located in Ocean Township.

His recent duties provide him the opportunity to live deep in the Pine Barrens, under semi-primitive conditions. He lives in a shelter he constructed himself, and must gather many of the essentials necessary for his own survival. Previously, he was employed as an instructor in the Tracker's Kids Program, where he instructed children on survival skills and group dynamics.

The summer before that, he worked as a counselor and an outdoor education instructor in a camp for inner city youth, many of whom were drug addicts, diagnosed ADD, and from households in crisis. Part of Matt's responsibility there was to build initiative, encourage team work and self esteem and to demonstrate positive role modeling.

"While working with youth I have a set of goals that I try to accomplish in whatever area I work. In this case, the seen goals would be centered around wilderness survival skills, tracking, nature study, movement and awareness. These skills range anywhere from friction fires ("rubbing sticks together" to make fires) natural survival shelters, primitive foods, and survival strategy to track identification, awareness of birds and animals and plant identification. I also love to incorporate healthy exercise through natural movement, stretching, animal movements and hiking. These skills alone teach youth to think positively and give them a positive alternative to TV and drugs, allowing them to focus their energy on positive, useful things.The unseen goals of the program are hard to explain .. these programs teach youth to think for themselves, consider things on a deeper level, and open up a part of them that many people never explore."

- Matt Hollen

 

 


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