Danielle “Dani” Charbonneau teaches English language arts in Project Vine, the alternative program within Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in Oak Bluffs, Mass. She is also the program coordinator for Project Vine, where she and her colleagues teach students in grades 9-12 and ensure their school experience includes a sense of belonging and tastes of life beyond the island. Project Vine activities include an annual technology-free, electricity-free and indoor bathroom-free retreat to an uninhabited island; a “Chopped for Charity” fundraiser for the local food bank; Island Lore Night, in which students and community members present historical fiction and spooky stories; and trips to Boston.

Charbonneau holds a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature from Harvard University and a Master of Science in Education in educational leadership from the University of New England. Charbonneau has been co-advisor to the high school’s Gender Sexuality Alliance since 2018 and is a member of the school’s Race-Equity and Cultural Proficiency Group, which in 2020 helped create lessons in response to the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests. She believes that students have every right to expect that when they come to school, they will encounter and explore new ideas, they will experience joy and they will be rewarded with real accomplishments that have value to them.

She lives on the mainland with her wife and family.