Uncrowned Community Builders

Francine Conwell received her undergraduate degree from Wagner College and her Masters Degree from Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. She has a C.A.S. from the State University of New York at Brockport. Francine was both a teacher and an administrator for the Rochester City School District, prior to her retirement in August 2002.

For many years Francine was an ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) teacher. Her experiences in this field led to a fellowship that supported summer study in Mexico in 1985. She later taught English in the Ukraine in the summers of 1995 and 1996. Her interest in Third World countries and their problems influenced her travel to West Africa in 1998 with the late Dr. Beverly Davis and members of the Sister Cities organization. She and other members of that group distributed medical and educational supplies to schools and hospitals in Bamako, Mali.

While teaching for the Rochester City School District, Francine was also an adjunct instructor at the University of Rochester where she taught TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) methods graduate course. She is currently on the faculty of Monroe Community College as an adjunct professor, teaching writing in the ESOL/Foreign Language Department.

She is active in the community as president of the Rochester Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, Bamako-Rochester Sister Cities Committee, Habitat for Humanity and First Saturday Book Club. She is a past board member of the Girl Scouts of Genesee Valley and the Oregon-Leopold Daycare Center. Francine's hobbies include acting and writing poetry.

She is the proud mother of three adult daughters, Leslie, Gina and Heather. Her four grandchildren, Myles, Alexis, Nicolas and Gabrielle are the "love of her life."