Emily Schuit

Emily Schuit was born and raised outside of Princeton, NJ, now lives in Hudson, NY and directs Perfect 10 afterschool for girls. She describes the high ranking high school she attended and contrasts it to educational models she has come to value. After attending Cornell University, she describes moving to the Hudson Valley in 2016 to work on an organic vegetable farm after which point she started volunteering at Perfect 10 and fell in love with the girls in the program. She has been in director role for about a year. Emily speaks extensively about her passion for working at Perfect 10, her role as a do-gooder, and her attempt to come into the work without an agenda. Emily articulates the different realities within the city of Hudson and suggests that Perfect 10 operates uniquely by attempting to bridge racial and class disparities. She lists some of the activities the girls initiate, including pottery, cooking, baking, photography, summer camps, jewelry making, drawing, animae, creating a coloring book, computer coding, and sex education. She speaks about living on N. 3rd St. and learning about Hudson from her working class neighbors She speaks about her discomfort with being faced by privilege and her desire to awaken her privileged peers to the ways they could contribute their resources to the city and its youth. Emily ends by naming the woman who have been involved in Perfect 10 and her view of Hudson as a community being led and reinvigorated by women.

This interview would be of interest to those researching millennials in Hudson, agricultural movements, alternative forms of education, afterschool, racial and class dynamics in Hudson, coming to terms with one’s privilege, female leaders, community engagement, experience of being a transplant