STACYVILLE, Maine — Students from Casco Bay High School in Portland joined forces with Katahdin Area High School on several community service projects last week as part of a collaborative effort between the two schools.
A total of 120 Casco Bay students spent time working on projects with Katahdin students the week of April 9-13.
Liam Swift of Casco Bay High School in Portland scrapes paint from the Patten Recreation Building Thursday, April 12, as part of a cultural exchange program. (Joseph Cyr)
Kala Rush, an English and outdoor education instructor for KAHS, said the collaboration came together rather quickly.
“I started working as a place-based educator for the Katahdin Woods and Waters Monument,” Rush explained. “That led to a bunch of connections with service learning and place-based projects.”
Rush said Casco Bay students were already heading north, planning adventures in the Millinocket area, while staying at the New England Outdoor Center, but needed some projects for their students to work on.
Those projects included complete paint makeovers for the Veterans Memorial Library in Patten and the Patten Recreation Department. Other projects involved students clearing walking trails behind KAHS and working on a pavillion project at the high school. The students also worked on a video production of a Katahdin Woods and Waters Monument seminar that was held in KAHS on April 11.
“This is a program we call, ‘Junior Journey,’ which we came up with about 11 years ago,” said Michael Hale, guidance director for Casco Bay High School. “We wanted to take our juniors on some type of transformative journey where we could focus on service work.”
Hale said his school’s program has evolved with the addition of videography, where the Casco Bay students conduct interviews and create a documentary film on their adventures.
While busy working at the Patten Recreation Department on April 12, Justin Reid, a junior at Casco Bay High School, said he was impressed with the greater Katahdin region and had quickly formed new friendships with many of the Katahdin students.
“I have a bit of a connection to the Millinocket region,” he said. “Half of my family hails from Millinocket, so I have a bit of mill history on that end. But coming here to Stacyville and Patten, I am convinced many of these smaller towns are overlooked.”
Shelby Lewis of Katahdin Area High School paints trim at the Veterans Memorial Library in Patten Thursday, April 12, as part of a cultural exchange program. (Joseph Cyr)
Driving around the Patten area, Reid said he was impressed with the scenic beauty of the area, and the friendliness of the resident
“One of the greatest aspects of this opportunity is we get to see places like this that are often overlooked,” Reid continued. “The interaction with Katahdin students has been going really well.”
Katahdin sophomore Shelby Lewis shared those sentiments as she was busy painting at the Veterans Memorial Library.
“We have had a lot of great help with the students from Casco Bay,” she said. “I love meeting new people. I met some great students, we exchanged social media. It’s really nice. It’s been hard work, but it really pays off to see the finished product and how one little thing you do for the community can affect everyone else.”
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- Students from Casco Bay joined Katahdin High School last week to do community service projects at the school and surrounding communities. On Thursday, April 12, the group did painting projects at the Patten Recreation Building. (Joseph Cyr)
