Frances Ross-Furlong is new to YNTEP, joining the team in April 2023. She’s spent the past 15 years problematizing her settler bias, focusing on unlearning and re-learning to work for First Nation educational goals. She came to the Yukon in 2009 to collaborate with the Vuntut Gwitchin Government and Chief Zzeh Gittlit School in re-developing their spring culture camp programming as part of her graduate studies. Moving to Old Crow, she worked together with Elders, citizens and VGG staff to establish the first high school program using cultural and land-based learning and cooperative workplace training. She then taught Grades 4-5-6 focusing on developing community-learning experiences – experiences such as a week skidooing out to Crow Flats to establish a winter camp at -45’C while working on English, math, science and physical education learning objectives while co-teaching with an Elder. She joined Yukon College in 2018 as the Land-based Programs Coordinator to collaborate with Yukon First Nations to co-teach community and land-based English and science courses, as well as develop Indigenous Guardian and Northern Outdoor Leadership training certificates. She is currently working on her doctoral research together with Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation on how they’d like to move forward under the First Nation School Board. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Mount Allison University), Bachelor of Education (Queen’s University), Masters of Environmental Studies (Dalhousie University) and is pursuing a Doctorate in Educational Leadership (Simon Fraser University).