Valerie DeVuyst has been a board member since FPAE was formed in 2012. She recently retired after 18 years as ESOL Program Coordinator and Student Advisor at Portland Adult Education. At PAE, she met hundreds of immigrants who worked hard to become productive members of the Portland community. She currently works as ESOL Program Coordinator at Westbrook Adult Education. Valerie is also a board member of Scholarships for Maine Immigrants (SMI) and Windham Adult Education Advisory Board.
Prior to PAE she worked as Barber Foods’ on-site education coordinator for the USM Center for Workplace Learning. Her 10 years spent living in Japan gained her a great empathy for the challenges of learning a new language and culture. Ever since she can remember she has had a great passion for learning about new cultures and languages. In her spare time she likes to garden, read, and learn new languages.