Dear friends and partners of the CCLC: We're delighted to share this update about the impact and developments of our ongoing programs. You are all connected to what makes this work possible. Please enjoy!
Graduation Day…and Looking Ahead to Cobscook’s
10th Year
On a beautiful spring day as the apple trees were showering us with petals, we celebrated the graduation of our three Cobscook seniors. Prior to graduation, those young, capable leaders organized most aspects of our end of year trip on the St. Croix river. They took care of essential details, down to planning and preparing a delicious riverside backcountry eggplant parmesan supper! Three of our four expeditions this year were new to the program, including this trip, and in the words of teacher Michael Giudilli, “each was a screaming success!” Cobscook is a true learning adventure for students and faculty alike.
Our Outing Club has recently collaborated with the Cobscook Shores program, a new recreational organization of the Butler Conservation Fund, to offer an 8-mile mountain bike outing, where participants learned techniques and the mechanics of the bike. On another adventure, Washington County youth participated in a belaying and rappelling workshop at Washington County Community College's rock climbing wall.
River Camp is fully enrolled and sets off on its seventh season July 21st-August 2nd. Teens will be part of a youth crew, spending their nights camping throughout Washington County. They will work alongside professionals on critical salmon habitat restoration and regional conservation projects. Join us at 2:00 on Friday, August 2nd for our closing ceremony.
Our Campus is Complete!
CCLC’s sparkling, spacious new facility has been in continuous use since we opened the doors in May. People love the space. You know what makes us even happier, though? Guests keep telling us how inspired they are by our mission.
Cobscook teacher Kara McCrimmon hitched a ride to Bangor with a couple of Road Scholar folks in June. They said one of the highlights of the program was learning about the CCLC. It amazed them that community members got together to build this place. They talked about how it gives them hope that people at the local level can get together and make things like this happen. Hear, hear!
Another participant wrote: “The people who are a part of this place are incredible and have such open arms. I so appreciate that we were welcomed in to aspects of the local community here, like having a farm-to-table dinner and participating in the Monday Night Music circle. That filled my soul. The classroom space was beautiful & fit our group so well. After being here for 2 weeks, this place has begun to feel like home.”
Reflecting on the first month, Daphne Loring, Retreat Center Associate, remarks, “It’s been great not to have to say ‘No’ to people who call. Before we could only do one class a day. Now we can have multiple guests: we were able to host a group of girl scouts for a pottery class, while the Lodge and other classrooms were full to the brim with Birdfest participants!”
Program Highlights:
UNE North launched their new Ocean Food Systems professional science master’s program at CCLC in May with nine grad students attending, as well as half a dozen faculty representing multiple disciplines from UNE, Iceland, and nearby Sipayak (CCLC Board member Newell Lewey).
A sampling of other groups gracing the campus this summer include:
TREE has now been working directly with its partner schools since January 2018. The reach of TREE is impressive. In 2018, TREE leadership provided professional development to over 2000 educators and community members. By June 2019, we expanded those numbers by an additional 1073 individuals.
East-West Collaboration: TREE is providing training and support to colleagues in two school districts in California as they work to integrate trauma-informed practices in their schools. Representatives of both districts, La Honda-Pescadero (a rural district south of San Francisco) and Bayshore, a small yet urban district in San Francisco, came to CCLC in June for an immersive week of TREE professional development. As you can see from their comments, it was a truly transformative experience:
“Brittany and Alan, I need to let you know what an amazing time we had this week with you and your colleagues. A highlight of my educational experience. My team is grateful, amazed, awed and inspired by your work. We can't stop talking about how invigorated we are.”
-Amy Wooliever, Superintendent La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District
“I have never had such an extraordinary experience, and to have the good fortune of sharing it with such extraordinary people made it all the more valuable.
I learned more in those 4 days than I could ever have imagined.” -Maya Baker, Principal of Bayshore School
In recent months, TREE has partnered with Mano en Mano, Maine Outdoor School, The Maine Seacoast Mission, Milbridge Public Library, Incredible Edible and the Women’s Health Resource Library to support the health and well-being of community members in Western Washington County. Our group is proudly named Downeast Roots, and this collaborative work around equity and well-being is starting to take shape. In September, Downeast Roots will be hosting a Downeast Roots Festival, and TREE will be sharing our work around student voice and empowerment as related to supporting healthier communities. Be looking for more details.
This collaboration with members of Downeast Roots has also been a focus of many hours of work by our Research-Practice Partnership, a collaboration between CCLC and faculty from UMaine and Colby College. In the past week, under the leadership of Lyn Mikel Brown and Mark Tappan, a Spencer Research Grant was submitted in hopes of supporting our equity work in both schools and communities.
Representatives from two California school districts came to Maine for a week of TREE professional development in June.
