Whitney MacDonald, M. Ed.  I have been a coach and educator for over twenty years.  My teaching career began while coaching basketball teams in youth at-risk programs in Oakland, Ca.  As a coach and tutor I saw the impact that a positive male influence could have on boys in their teen years.  After receiving my Masters in Education and Waldorf teacher’s certification at Antioch University, I taught and coached for fourteen years at the Emerson Waldorf School in Chapel Hill, NC.  During this time my wife, Amy MacDonald, CNM, and I developed and implemented a comprehensive health education program for the students of the school.  Even as we developed a successful program I saw more was needed than a school could provide. Good kids from good families were struggling in the transition into manhood.  It was clear that boys were not getting the support they needed during this time of transition so I set out to find a better way.  Out of this, Sakonnet Passage was born.
    I grew up in Ohio and Massachusetts playing sports of all kinds and developing an on-going love of the sea and the outdoors.  My favorite places to be in the world are on the ocean or in the redwoods.  I have lectured on education both domestically and abroad and am doing on-going work in China.  I have also been active in Hands-in-Peace, an international organization which brings young people from societies in conflict together for cultural healing through athletics and cultural sharing.  I live in Hillsborough, NC with my wife and two teenage sons and our dog, Stella.