MARS HILL, Maine — When Whitney Williams, a seventh and eighth grade science teacher at Central Aroostook High School in Mars Hill, found out about actress Kristen Bell’s Instagram campaign for teachers across the country, she never expected to become the recipient of hundreds of items for her classroom thanks to many generous individuals.
The hashtag campaign began with singer Ed Droste, of the indie band Grizzly Bear, who asked celebrities to feature teachers from underserved communities and their Amazon wish lists on Instagram. Kristen Bell signed on to the #10featuredteachers challenge, and asked teachers to send her a “Photo of you! Your story! Your Amazon wish list!” She promised to feature 10 teachers from across the country starting on Sept. 21 and to ask her Instagram followers to buy as many items from the selected teachers’ wish lists as they could.
After submitting her wish list and a brief description of the needed items to Bell, Williams became the third teacher featured on the third day of Bell’s campaign. Throughout the day on Sept. 23, more than 180 people from across the U.S., Canada and even Finland purchased everything from a new 3D printer and 10 new microscopes to smaller items such as rulers, colored pencils and markers.
“I wish that I’d been able to calculate the total cost for all the supplies, but I would estimate that there was maybe over $5,000 worth of items,” Williams said. “People purchased items from the list so quickly that I had to add items throughout the day.”
Williams and several of her colleagues from Central Aroostook High School spent three days during the SAD 42 harvest break sorting through and unloading hundreds of packages from orders folks placed on Amazon. She noted that even though the packages were meant for her, she received such an abundance of supplies that she gave some items to her colleagues for their classrooms.
Some of the major items that Williams received were the 3D printer, valued at $300; 10 new microscopes with prepared slides, which cost $100 each; two triple beam balance scales at $120 each; 16 lab aprons; seven new periodic table posters; and dissection kits, flasks, beakers and graduated cylinders for science labs.
Williams, who has taught at Central Aroostook High School since 2011, said that like many teachers in rural school districts, she has learned how to be resourceful and creative with classroom supplies amidst tight budgets. But now thanks to the new supplies, she already has seen her students become more engaged during class and appreciative of the opportunity to learn in new ways.
“Before, there would be groups of three or four students crowded around the best microscopes we had and often we spent most of the class time trying to see if the microscope lights would work,” Williams said. “Now they can just flick a switch and get to work.”
One of Williams’ students, 14-year-old Lane McCrum, said he’s excited to finally use a 3D printer.
“I’m excited. I think having new equipment is going to make things easier for us,” McCrum said.
His classmate Ryder Brewer, 13, said that during harvest break, his mother showed him a post from SAD 42’s Facebook page about Williams being a part of the Instagram challenge, which made him excited to come back to school and see the new supplies.
“It’ll be fun to use the microscopes for more projects,” Brewer said.
In addition to being featured on Bell’s Instagram campaign, Williams even got to chat online with the actress, who is best known for her voiceover work in the Disney film “Frozen” and her TV roles in “Veronica Mars” and “The Good Place.”
“At first she sent me a message to let me know I was being featured and I thought it was just an automated message that she sent to every teacher. Then I messaged her back saying, ‘Thank you for using your stardom to bless others’ and she wrote back saying, ‘This is so much fun. I hope you get everything you need,’” Williams said. “She was incredibly sweet.”
Williams was the only teacher from Maine to be part of Bell’s campaign, which later was extended to include 10 more teachers from across the country.
With many of the Amazon packages, Williams received notes from the people who purchased the supplies, thanking her for the important real-life role she plays as a teacher. She said she was amazed that so many people she has never even met stepped up to help her give students greater learning tools.
“I think especially in rural communities, it’s easy for teachers to feel isolated and like they’re work isn’t significant, but seeing people give back to educators lets all of us know that we’re valued and that what we do is important,” Williams said.
