Aujanee Young
Founder & Director
Aujanee Young is a Flintstone, born and raised. Her passions for education, community engagement and civic responsibility lead her to pursue social science and education degrees from Michigan State University. She has worked in a number of educational settings including managing after school programs, volunteer teaching and youth mentorship across a number of schools in the Flint area. In pursuit of understanding and developing quality education courses she completed her Master’s in education focusing on curriculum and instruction. She has also established herself as an education evaluator and researcher working out of the University of California Berkeley. Aujanee is the founder and visionary for Lodestar. She developed Lodestar’s unique model and curriculum for the purpose of enhancing the lives of those in the Flint community.
Colleen Sutherland
Deputy Director
Colleen Sutherland is a native of the Chicago area who has been working in education for ten years. She believes that education needs an overhaul by creating spaces of gathering and communication. Education should reflect who you are, where you’ve been, and where you want to go. Colleen specializes in educational experiences that are relevant, hands-on, and supportive inspired by curiosity, questioning, and conversation. She honed these skills as a classroom teacher in public and charter schools in Madison, WI; as a program manager and school programs educator at Harvard Museums of Science & Culture; and an environmental educator at the University of California, Berkeley (among others). Colleen holds a Bachelor’s in Education specializing in Secondary Education and Teaching from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She obtained a Master’s of Arts in Museum Education from Tufts University, focusing on accessible and relevant curriculum.
Colleen joined Lodestar because it supports not only her own lifelong learning, but also that of the community around her. She currently lives in Oakland, California.