Malcolm Mills '06, Actor

Malcolm Mills (aka "Alex Mills") is a NYC-based actor & filmmaker. His directorial debut film, VR Food, stars comedian John Early (HBO's Search Party), and is currently touring film festivals internationally. In addition to directing the film, Mills also served as its screenwriter, production designer, soundtrack composer, and lead actor. Mills is currently in post-production on two new shorts he's directed, a horror-comedy involving his cats, Strange with Cats, and Oh, for a Pack of Gum, a ghost story with Stonestreet Studios.

As an actor, Mills plays an evil wizard in an upcoming fantasy feature film, The Spine of Night, starring Patton Oswalt and Betty Gabriel (Get Out). Other acting credits include Fox's Tenured with Kate Flannery (The Office), and They Remain with William Jackson Harper (The Good Place). At YHS, Mills played the lead in the Footloose musical, alongside your English professor, John Russell, who played the surly gym teacher. Mills also twice-won the YHS spirit week improv-comedy challenge, which he considers his peak.

Carolyn Highland '08, Author

Carolyn Highland is a writer and teacher with over 50 published essays in print and online, in publications such as Backcountry Magazine, The Ski Journal, A Worthy Expedition: The History of NOLS, Misadventures Magazine, The Leader, and the websites of Teton Gravity Research and the Outdoor Women’s Alliance, among others. She is a regular contributing writer to the Deuter blog and the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) blog. Her writing has also been used in course readers on expeditions through NOLS, the Prescott College Outdoor Program, the Second Nature Wilderness Program, and NatureBridge. Carolyn received a BA in creative non-fiction writing from Northwestern University in 2012. Her first book, Out Here: Wisdom from the Wilderness was released in September 2020 by Rocky Mountain Books. She lives in Truckee, California.

Catherine Bickford '82, Art Consultant

Catherine Bickford founder of Artascope in Yarmouth, is a painter and teacher. Catherine asserts that teaching and practicing art can be healing. "I imagine my paintings as moments when the universe is winking through me. I am drawn to abstraction, keeping the paint alive and spontaneous so that the process remains visible. I embrace the juxtaposition between rendering form and building composition with playful color and strong brushwork." Catherine embodies Artascope’s mission in her own life, using creativity to buoy her spirit and bring her closer to others. "My closest friends are artists and I love having their artwork in my life."

Prior to founding Artascope Studios Catherine Bickford had a fifteen-year award-winning career as a television producer and production manager. Highlights include work for the BBC, Unsolved Mysteries, Coca-Cola, NCAA and LL Bean. Catherine has been recognized as a community leader and in 1997 she was awarded a Partners of the Americas Fellowship in International Community Development sponsored by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Catherine has a BA in Communication from the University of Southern Maine. In the past she has been invited to participate in several business development programs including VC 101 at the Center for Women’s Enterprise in Boston, MA and Top Gun at the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development in Portland, ME. In 2009 Catherine was the recipient of a seed grant from Maine Technology Institute to conduct market research.