Vose Library is scheduled to host Michelle Finn, a contestant on Season 8 of the reality TV show “Alone,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8. Contributed photo

UNION — Vose Library is scheduled to host Michelle Finn, a contestant on Season 8 of the reality TV show “Alone,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8, at the library or via Zoom.

In-person events are subject to transition to fully virtual should COVID-19 impact the ability to meet in person.

Finn was raised on the Maine coast, where she grew up exploring the forest and seaside areas. She spent most of her free time outdoors with her older brother, wandering the woods, fishing off the town wharf, combing the shore, and generally getting up to childhood mischief.

Her mother, a teacher, and her uncle, an avid outdoorsman, had a significant hand in inspiring her love of nature, teaching her about the world around her and taking her camping and fishing.

Finn received her degree in elementary education, but instead of entering the classroom after graduation, she chose to pursue bushcraft studies and lived primitively in a semi-subterranean dwelling for nearly two years, taking classes and practicing various skills such as tracking, shelter making, and wild edible identification. She spent years running or supporting trainings for adults and children to help them connect with the wilderness.

Eventually she ended up in a public school in Bush Alaska, teaching Siberian Yup’ik children on a remote island off the coast of Nome where she continued to learn traditional skills from the village elders. There she met her husband Doug, also a teacher, and they now live in rural Maine, renovating an 1820s farmhouse.

When not providing professional development to teachers around the country, Finn can be found traveling the world, practicing indigenous skills, scuba diving and gardening.

To receive a Zoom registration link, call 207-785-4733, email librarian@voselibrary.org or stop by the library at 392 Common Road.

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