Our Story
The People of Pine Plains is created and managed by Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School’s own students who are a part of Mrs. Kaufmann and Ms. Niznik’s Building Community Connections through Art and Literature class.
The primary goal is to have students interact with communities within the Hudson Valley, with a focus on Pine Plains and the surrounding towns. Our main focuses will be the creation of public arts projects, seeking out local creative opportunities, and researching the history of the land. We’ll work with the Stanford Grange as well as local artists, farmers, and businesses.
Mrs. Kaufmann
Teacher
Mrs. Kaufmann is in her 5th year of teaching at Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School, and 7th year of teaching middle school. In addition to secondary education, her background includes graphic and web design, photography, and creative writing. She has a soft spot for the weird, strange, magical, & macabre. Her beige flag is that I actually think that if she met Taylor Swift, they’d be best friends.
Ms. Niznik
Teacher
Ms. Niznik has been teaching art at Pine Plains for 7 years now. She loves drawing and dancing in her free time. She was an Irish step dancer for 12 years and did Indian dance for 6 years. She also volunteers at Knowing Neurons, a neurology education website as an article illustrator. One day, she wants to own a miniature goat.
Emma Henderson
Lead Interviewer
Emma is a senior at Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School. She enjoys writing, reading, and art of all kinds. Emma can often be found crocheting, watching Criminal Minds, and annotating poetry. She enjoys spending time with her friends, bothering her cat, and listening to Taylor Swift. She’s excited to use her social butterfly tendencies to network, conduct interviews, and create stories her peers can enjoy.
Ren Babcock
Lead Interviewer
Ren is a Senior at Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School. They enjoy reading, writing, and listening to music. They love their four cats and you can find them at the movie theater nearly every weekend. They are very excited to be a part of the People of Pine Plains because they are looking forward to expanding their writing experience from fiction, poetry, and screenwriting to journalism as well.
Darren Morey
Cryptozoologist
Darren is a Junior at Stissing Mountain Jr/Sr. High School. He enjoys drawing, reading, writing, and listening to music. He’s worked his life into becoming the youngest cryptozoologist, trying to prove the existence of Bigfoot/Sasquatch and make his name known in the history books. After seeing Bigfoot over 6 years ago, he wanted to find out the truth about what he had feared since day 1.
Skyler Lyman
Lead Illustrator
Skyler is a Senior at Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School and enrolled in Dutchess Boces graphic design program. She enjoys playing Pikmin 4 and drawing. They’re excited to draw for the People of Pine Plains.
Angel Shea
Co Web Designer
Angel Shea is a Junior at Stissing Mountain Jr/Sr High School. She likes to write short stories and create art with different mediums. She listens to different types of music depending on her mood, she
Mercy Tindall
Web Designer
Mercy Tindall is a junior at Stissing Mountain Jr/Sr High School. She likes ceramics, cats, being with her family, and playing music. She tries to be as helpful as possible, and she also has a tendency to never give up and try again.
Lia Flowers
Position or title
Lia Flowers is a senior at Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School. She enjoys drawing, writing, exploring, and partying. Lia is rarely at her own house, enjoying time with friends and family including her favorite pet cat Fern.
Maylin Lyon
Position or title
Maylin Lyon is a senior at Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School. She enjoys forensics and pathology. She spends most of her freetime watching forensic documentaries and murder documentaries to study the cause of death and draw it out on paper to study. She loves being a helping hand to the staff around the school and the students. She is very excited to be working with PoPP and will do all she can to be hands on with anything at task and is looking forward to more interviews later on.
Bella Hottes
Position or title
Bella is a sophomore at Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School. She enjoys reading, art and loves ceramics. Bella spends most of her time helping out others and will do all she can to help her community. She enjoys hanging out with friends, walking to Wilcox park and using the frisbee golf course. Bella is very hands on and is willing to be a part of PoPP and working with all her amazing friends in the class.