Sanford Service Learning Program Weblog

Sanford School Department won the Governor’s Award for Service and Volunteerism’s School District Excellence award. Sanford Schools are recognized as the best in the state for implementing Service Learning. Superintendent David Theoharides was presented with the award from First Lady Ann LePage on April 17, 2012. Please check out the video below of Mr. Theoharides receiving the award:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U73iCv2rbrE

Pictures from Michael Ashmore, Maine Commission for Community Service

How does one person make a difference when encountering a social change? That is the essential question of the ELA unit every 8^th grade student is trying to answer. On April 10^th, five people from Southern Maine came to the Jr. High School to share their ideas. These five leaders and problem solvers were brought to SJHS because they work to solve community problems. They work on a variety of problems and use a variety of problem solving techniques. Because each speaker was engaging and passionate about their work, what we have affectionately called the “Hero Panel” was a success. The five heroes were:

Brogan Horton from Animal Rescue Unit- Brogan rescues animals that are in trouble. She goes undercover, works with people in need, and uses activism to save animals from negative situations.

Leo Maheu from Americorps and Portland Trials- Leo helps preserve and protect wild places. He helps build habitat, remove invasive species, and create trails to make nature more accessible.

Katie Poole from the Sierra Club- Katie runs the Green Sneaker Program for the Sierra club. She helps run energy investigations to help Maine families save money and reduce their energy footprint.

Terry Morrison from the Maine House of Representatives- Terry is the representative in the Maine House from South Portland. Terry sponsored the Anti-Bullying legislation that is working to be passed.

Gere Stevens from Maine Cooperative Extension- Gere runs the nutrition education program in York and Cumberland County. Gere works with young people and families to help meet food insecurity, hunger, and nutrition needs in our community.

On April 10^th the entire student body from the Jr. High School came to the Gym and was introduced to the panelists by a slideshow created by two students from Jane Ross’s ELA class. Here is a link to the slideshow: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7ob3JhYe0MNcDk2YnJFMVJrOUk

Each panelists spoke for 5 minutes about what they do, how they solve problems, the joys and challenges of their work, and how they got into doing what they do. The students then had some time to ask questions to the whole panel. Students wondered why they did the work they did, what they thought the most important problems were, and what the best ways to help the community were. The Student Council from Sanford Jr. High announced the project they were starting with the Horse Club. They are doing a drive to raise money, food, and materials for the Animal Rescue Unit that Brogan Horton started.

After the panel each panelists led breakout sessions with each LC. Students were able to choose who they wanted to go more in-depth with. Students were able to ask questions of the legislative process with Mr. Morrison and discuss the adventurous animal rescues with Brogan. Students learned about the Portland Trail system, and more importantly Leo’s beard, with Leo Mahue. Gere and Katie talked to the students about climate change, energy efficiency, and nutrition and how Jr. High Students can help solve these problems.

Student feedback from the day was positive. They felt inspired and liked the diversity of speakers. They had good discussions in their LCs about if legislation was the right way to stop bullying and how they can help the world themselves.

The next steps for the Jr. High students are to create their own action plan to solve a community problem or a campaign to meet a social need. Students are looking at prescription drug abuse, endangered species, and many more community problems. Be on the lookout in this blogs to see how the Jr. High Students can be the “person that makes a difference”.

Frequently Asked Question: “I like the idea of Service Learning, but how do I get it started in my classroom? How do students discover and become passionate about real community problems that also link to my curriculum?”

Answer: Finding an entry point and providing guided discovery activities which can include media studies, field trips, photo essays, read alouds, brainstorms, etc. One of the best entry points is to have a community expert come in and speak to students about a real problem.

Sanford’s Vision for 2015 says that the community and the schools will collaborate to provide authentic projects for students. Working with the community to allow students to help solve authentic problems is one of the key principles of service learning. Community partners and mentors need to be involved with students and classrooms throughout the service learning process, but they are particularly important in the beginning.

A quality guest speaker can engage students in a topic, problem, or issue. Guest speakers can help provide specific knowledge and skills to a group of students. Having a guest speaker at the beginning of  a service learning project will not only help students discover issues and problems, but also provide a partner for students to work with throughout the process. The speaker can be the expert students work with as they investigate and explore the problem. They can also mentor students as they create and implement their action plan.

Community experts are role models for students. An anecdote I often share is how growing up the only adults I knew were teachers, secretaries, and farmers. What a great learning experience it can be for students to meet Animal Control Officers, Wildlife Biologists, Businesspeople, or Food Rescue Volunteers. One of the benefits Service Learning provides is “apprentice citizenship”- students learning how to be citizens alongside community members who are doing citizenship work. Having a guest speaker is the first step this apprentice citizenship relationship.

Service Learning isn’t the only way students can benefit from guest speakers. Providing guest speakers is a community based learning strategy that can benefit all sorts of projects, units, classrooms, and students. The Community Based Learning Work Group is looking to create a data base of community experts that can come in and provide expertise on a variety of topics throughout the Sanford School Department. If you are a community member and you would like to be a community expert please comment in the space provide. If you are classroom teacher and have used a guest speaker in your classroom please share the experience in the space provided.

Here is a list of guest speakers who have helped kick of service learning projects around the Sanford Schools over the last month.

2^nd Grade Life Cycle Project

Doc Johnston- Mousam Way Land Trust- Spoke to students about New England Cottontails

Thom Gagne- “The Butterfly Guy”- Spoke to students about Monarch Butterflies

Missy Brandt- York County Soil and Water- Spoke to students about Bobcats and Owls

5^th Grade Hunger and Nutrition Project

Jodi Bissonnette- York County Food Rescue- Spoke with students about hunger and food insecurity issues in York County

1^st Grade Garden Project

Mark Follansbee- Wormmania- Taught students how to create and care for their vermicompost system

Strategies Youth Council

Zach Church- MIT Sloan School of Business- Spoke to Youth Council about how to use marketing and social media to advocate and create social change

“CJL  Maple Syrup Saturday was a huge success!” reported Principal Deb Gaudreau. We began planning this event in late fall to help bring the community together, engage students, connect curriculum to the real world, and teach about the fun Maine tradition making sap into syrup (See 2/28 blogpost for more information).  We estimate over 600 people attended the event Saturday at Carl J. Lamb School. The first one hundred families received a jar of maple syrup. The syrup came from sap that students collected from the maple trees around the CJL campus. Students also participated in boiling, filtering, and finishing the syrup. Students in Kevin Donahoe’s 5^th grade art class created logos for the jars while meeting their design standards. The syrup was such a big hit that after the jars were gone we scooped it into plastic containers, so that most families who attended could take some home.

 After arriving at the event families could choose from a variety of activities. Dave Eldridge and Kay Wilkins had a scavenger hunt and relay to keep everyone running. Behind the school was an obstacle course designed by Meagan Patrick’s third graders to show off their mapping skills. Meagan also had a water balloon launcher, which was a big hit! Inside the school was packed with people all morning as everyone lined up to sample pancakes topped with CJL maple syrup (late in the morning they brought out ice cream topped with more syrup). Two local musicians picked tunes on the stage as students of all ages participated in Pattie Paradis’ Cupcake Walk. In the lobby stood about 10 displays students created to show off what they have learned about maple trees, maple syrup, and more. Students from Mrs. Meehan and Mrs. Gagnon’s classes shared the recipe and activity books they created.   Extra activity books and recipe booklets had to be run off to make sure each family could take one home.  Sixth grade students and CJL alumni did face painting near the art room for young and old. In the parking lot Bob Rothwell demonstrated the process of turning sap into syrup. Bob answered lots of questions about the process and several families are considering home projects next year.  Volunteers from throughout the CJL community helped pass out information, serve pancakes, stoke the boiling fire, and generally make the day smooth. The CJL PTG sold baked goods and hot dogs to raise money for their organization. Everyone had a blast!

Here is a link to the slideshow that was shown during the event. It shows pictures of all the work the students did to prepare for Maple Syrup Saturday. http://youtu.be/MDdlSMm4uYo

There are lots of people and organizations to thank for the success of this event. Lots of teachers and parents went above and beyond their jobs to support this project. The administrators at CJL and the School Department supported the event throughout the process. Deb Gaudreau and Steve Bussiere invested their school’s resources and their personal time (Deb also volunteered her husband’s time…). Lowe’s of Sanford donated buckets and wood. Rick from Springvale Sugardaddy’s donated his time to help the project. He also did a lot of the boiling of sap we collected into syrup (it is a time consuming process!) Bob Rothwell was the brains and muscle behind this project and deserves tons of credit for its success.

If you have any thoughts about the event please post them in the comments section below. The comments section can also be a great place for students to share stories, ideas, or reflections about the project. Some more “real world” writing!

Check out more the article about the event in the Journal Tribune- http://www.journaltribune.com/articles/2012/03/27/news/doc4f707810d0e1f067331960.txt

Coordinators Note: Between explaining my job to neighbors, family, and friends, characterizing service learning to colleagues, administrators, students, and the community, as well as, integrating service learning into classrooms,  I spend a lot of time defining “Service Learning”. The shortest answer to the question: What is Service Learning- is Service Learning is a method to teach and learn. Fifteen teachers from Sanford School Department attend a workshop with Kids Consortium to get professional development to increase their understanding of this method.

On February 10^th and March 16^th teachers from Sanford School Department along with educators from around the state met in the town hall chambers to get professional development in Service Learning.

Matt Robinson from Kids Consortium led the training which focused on the KIDS as Planners Principals (the three legs of the Service Learning stool), the Service Learning Process, working with community partners, and more. Through a mix of guided practice, direct instruction, group discussion, and hands on activities Matt showed the what, why, and how of Service Learning.

One of the missions of KIDS Consortium that dovetails perfectly with our Vision 2015 in Sanford is that students can and should be solving real world problems. To create lifelong learners and citizens in a democracy, students need be given the skills and knowledge to discover/ investigate real world problems, research solutions, and create/implement action plans. Teachers at the Kids Consortium workshop were given many of the tools they need as educators to engage students in this method of learning. Teachers practiced creating a collaborative work environment, establishing norms, reflecting, discovering problems, creating an action plan, working with community partners, and much more.  

Matt modeled the methods he was teaching throughout the workshop. For example one of the threads in the Service Learning Process is “Reflection”, so throughout the trainings teachers were engaged in reflection about what they were learning. We came away with a book with lots of different ways to engage students in reflection and had a chance to try them.

             Throughout the trainings we had a chance to meet with our colleagues to plan service learning projects and get feedback. Most teachers left with a service learning project in mind, and a better understanding of how Service Learning can and will look in their classrooms. Teachers left with lots of resources including the Kids as Planners guidebook. If you attended the training I encourage you to post in the comments section below to share with your colleagues about what you gained from the Workshop. We look forward to offering this workshop again over the summer and next year. It is great way to get the tools to begin engaging your students in real world problem solving. Thanks to Matt and Kids Consortium for coming down to Sanford and engaging our teachers!

Many of the students from Sanford High School who went to the MYAN Youth Conference in November (see 11/21 blogpost) have continued their hard work to be leaders and advocate for a better community. The Strategies for a Stronger Sanford Youth Council has absorbed new students and have become the Strategies Youth Council. The mission they have set out for themselves states:

“We are the youth leaders of Sanford that are striving for a better community through action, education, and advocacy. We are the voice that will make a difference. We are the They!”

The “We are the they” came from two Freshman who said before joining this council they always said “They should do something about x or they should fix up y”, but now they realize that “We are the They…”

The youth council is filled with many busy students, and they all have different passions and ideas. Our goal is to give them the training, the space, the skills, and structure to help them create their mission and meet their goals. Here are some things the kids have been up to: 

• Fourteen students are being trained by RISC (Re-inventing Schools Coalition) to be mentors as Sanford moves towards their Vision 2015. Sanford Schools are going to be teaching and learning differently and students are going to need to help each other become learner centered. On Monday the students will meet with Commissioner Bowen to learn more about student-centered learning.
• Three students have joined the Partnership for a Hunger-Free York County. They attend a monthly meeting to learn about hunger issues, give ideas, and be the voice of the youth for the partnership. These students look to help advocate reducing hunger and can work with other clubs, classrooms, and/or students to help support their hunger or food projects.
• Around 20 students were trained by Rachel Phipps and Cathy Lounsbury from the Safe and Healthy Sanford Coalition on the 40 developmental assets. The developmental assets, which come from the Search Institute research, are the “building blocks” for success, health, and substance-abuse prevention. Students learned about the research, the assets, and began brainstorming ways they could use these ideas to help them advocate. They also began to think of ways they could train others on these ideas.
• On Mondays and Wednesdays many students from the Youth Council work with students from Emerson and Lafayette as part of the Shooting Stars and WOW programs. The high school students mentor the youngsters on cooking, dance, art, building, etc. The kids have a great time!
• Five students went to the Safe and Healthy Sanford Coalition meeting in February to talk about the Past, Present, and Future of Strategies. The students talked about all the great things Strategies Youth Council has done over the last couple years including Food Drives, Toys for Tots, trail clean-ups, working with youngsters, cleaning up Carpentier Park and much more. They talked about the MYAN conferences they have attended and the Sanford MYAN conference they put on last year. Next they shared their current mission and some of their goals for this year. The adult members of the Safe and Healthy Sanford Coalition were impressed and eager to help support the students.
• Strategies Youth Council’s next big project is to hold a Youth Leadership Conference here in Sanford. The Youth Leadership Conference is slated to be held on April 17^th over Spring Break. Be on the lookout for more information about this as students are planning to bring lots of youth from around Sanford back to school to learn leadership and advocacy while having a great time!

I continue to be impressed with the students’ energy and drive to make their community a better place. I look forward to continue reporting on the great things they are doing around their school and community!

One of Maine’s most abundant and useful natural resources is trees. People have been using trees for food, fiber, heat, shelter, and more for as long as there have been people in Maine. One of the sweetest ways to use trees is to collect the sap from maple trees and boil it into Maple Syrup. Bob Rothwell has been experimenting with maple sugaring as a personal hobby for a couple of years. Last year he decided to bring his hobby to school and tapped a few trees on the Carl J. Lamb Elementary School campus. This year Bob wanted to expand Maple Sugaring at CJL, as well as, engage lots of students in great learning experiences and create a project that would build community. The Carl J. Lamb Maple Project began…

The big idea is to collect sap from around the Carl J. Lamb community and have an event for Maine Maple Syrup Sunday. Many people on the CJL staff were excited about the idea, and planning began.

The first step was to find all the maple trees on the campus and create a map for easy collection. Third graders do mapping as part of their social studies unit, so they were tasked with this job. Mrs. Gagnon, Mrs. Patrick, and Ms. Rizzo’s third graders received some instruction on creating maps and then they practiced mapping their classrooms. Next they met with a local forester named Mr. Brennan to learn how to identify a maple tree. They created dichotomous keys to help them identify maple trees. The next day each class went out and used a satellite map created by Dave Parent from the Sanford Water District to mark where all the maple trees are on the CLJ campus. Students had to use their dichotomous keys to figure out if a tree was a maple or not based on the bark, branches, leaves, and shape.  By the end of the day each student had created a map showing where all the maple trees are located. They also created three large maps to display around the school.

The next project involved Mr. Rothwell and his ELL students. Bob’s students read several books and articles about maple trees and the sugaring process over the winter. Bob has met and partnered with many local maple farmers to figure out the best time to tap the trees. Because of the mild winter many sugar bushes are tapping their trees early. We decided to tap our trees before February vacation. First the students in Bob’s class marked a bunch of buckets, so it would be easy to record the volume of sap we get each day. Then it was time to tap the trees. On a freezing cold February day, all of Bob’s students had a chance to go out and tap the trees. This involved measuring to find the perfect spot to insert the tap, hand drilling a hole, hammering in the tap, setting up the bucket, attaching the hose. The students worked with efficiency and smiles! We tapped 13 trees that first day, and we now have 18 trees giving us the sweet, sweet sap.

Now, we are at the collecting stage. Each day a small group of upper-grade (4-6) students and a small group of lower-grade (K-1) students go out and measure and record the volume of sap we got the day before. They dump the sap in to large buckets and bring it to the walk-in refrigerator in the cafeteria to be stored for later boiling. Students have to measure volume, use decimals, and because some days the sap is frozen do some mental subtraction. The real world application of math is obvious to the students. Students also love the feeling of working outside. They beg to pull the wagon and run to check their taps. They want to work!

At the end of each week the data that has been collected on each tree each day is brought to Mrs. Patrick and Ms. Rizzo’s third graders. They are going to compile and graph the data to be shared with the school. The third graders are also recording high and low temperatures each day, so we’ll be able to see the relationship between temperature and sap flow.

Lots more is happening to get the school prepared for our Maple Syrup event. Each year our state has Maine Maple Syrup Sunday on the 4^th Sunday in March. It is a chance for people to get out and see sugar shacks in action. Carl J. Lamb is going to help kick off this event by having an event on the Saturday of that weekend. People from the community may come out and see a demonstration of a backyard way to make sap into syrup. Folks will also see displays from several CJL classrooms including the many uses of maple trees, cooking with maple syrup, fun facts about maple trees, and maple syrup math. There will be maple syrup and springtime games, as well as pancakes with our own maple syrup on top. Lots of classrooms are working hard to prepare these activities and displays. Stay tuned for more information on the CJL Maple Project…

Erin Fraser created a “Beyond Project” for her 8^th grade Social Studies students in their Reinvigorating America Unit. Students who had met the standards could then exceed them by doing the following tasks:

1. Read, “Mill’s Revival Brings Back Blankets, US Jobs” from the Maine Sunday Telegram.

2. Take a look at photographs the Sanford Mills in the past and present in two albums called “Sanford Mills”.

3. Seeing what two sets of mills look like, what can be done in our town to make the mills a profitable running business again? Keep these questions in mind:

Should they stay mills, or should they become something else?

Should they stay put, or should they be torn down/rebuilt?

What are the costs associated with this?

Is this a feasible idea? That is, could it be a sustainable business?

What are some possible environmental factors (positive or negative)?

4. After you have looked at what is there, decided on what should be there, and figured out environmental factors and costs, prepare a “proposal” to the Sanford Town Council. Show them your ideas and how it could be a positive for Sanford to put forth your ideas. How is this good for our town? How will it bring in jobs, revenue, etc?

5. This project is purposely being kept vague enough to bring your ideas and creativity to it. If this proposal was actually being presented to the Town Council, how do you think they would react to it? You would be making a presentation to the adults who have final say in a lot of what happens in this town, so remember that it should be a well thought out, mature presentation.

As the students worked through these tasks they had a chance to meet with Town Planner Jim Q. Gulnac on November 28th. He informed the students about the plans being made to revitalize the mills through the “Brownfield Project”. He talked to the students about some of the logistics of town planning, grant writing, and attracting businesses. Students were able to ask lots of questions to help support their project.

Jim Gulnac then invited the students, along with high school students from the Strategies Youth Council, to meet with Cheri Ruane from Weston and Sampson Engineers and Frank Gardner from the EPA to give youth voice to the Mill Yard Project.

On December 6^th, 19 students from Ms. Fraser’s Social Studies calls and 25 students from Strategies Youth Council met with Mr. Gulnac, Ms. Ruane, and Mr. Gardner for three hours in the Jr. High Library. Ms. Ruane gave a brief presentation on the process of revitalizing the Mill Yard and some of the history behind the current project. She then facilitated the part of the presentation which allowed students to give their views and ideas. Using technology that allowed for real time voting and graphing, students used “clickers” to give their views on a variety of subjects. Students were asked what they thought of the mills, what would be the ideal use for the mill yard area, what buildings should be kept, and what the most important things to think about are as we move forward. Students had time to ask a lot of questions. They had many specific environmental and engineering inquires. The students had a variety of opinions of what the most important factors were when thinking about this project- from environmental concerns to hopes for increased job opportunities. One question the presentation asked that really stuck out for me was what the most important business of a revitalized Mill Yard would be. The students were given 5 or 6 choices and almost 90% said a Community Center is what we need.

After the presentation students had an opportunity to work in small groups to come up with ideas and questions as the planners move forward. Cheri, Frank, and Jim promised to keep the students in the loop throughout the process. They asked the students to stay engaged by continuing to learn and lend their voices to the process.

The planners were impressed with the students understanding, engagement, and passion to make their community stronger. The students were grateful to be treated with respect and “like equals”. They are excited that people are working to revitalize the Mill Yard.

After the December 6^th meetings, Erin’s students presented their projects to their classmates. They created an action plan about what could and should be done for the mills going forward. This is a great way to engage a lot of students in the process of service learning. This project had “Academic Integrity” in that it was integrated into the curriculum Erin was teaching. It was student centered the project allowed students to move at their own pace and give their voice to the end product. Student had ownership of the project. They were “treated like equals” and their opinions were sought after. They worked on an authentic community problem and worked with community partners who were engaged in solving this problem. Good service learning allows students to meet and work with a variety of adults in lots of different careers.

Erin Fraser’s students and the members of the Strategies Youth Council look forward to continued engagement in the “Brownfield” and Mill Yard projects.

Coordinators Note: Seven students from Mrs. Kaye- Schiess’ Third Grade did Heifer International’s Read to Feed Program. Below they wrote an article for the blog to tell about it. We have done Read to Feed projects in the past with other classrooms, and Heifer has great curriculums that brings in social studies, science, health, and ELA lessons for several grade levels to enrich this service learning project. Read to Feed- type projects can be done to raise money for a variety of hunger projects including local shelters, food banks, and pantries. If you are interested in doing Read to Feed or working on projects to help end hunger please contact jbloom@sanford.org.

 Read to Feed is a reading project to buy and give animals to needy families. The animals help these families by changing their lives for the better. It helps them to be healthy, build new homes, and go to school. Read to Feed is sponsored by Heifer, International.

We are helping people like Beatrice who is a girl who lives in Africa. Before she gets the goat from Heifer International, her family has to build a habitat for the goat to survive. They have to plant stiff elephant grass, banana trees, pigeon trees and lab vines between the banana trees. This will give the goat food to eat and a place to live.

Beatrice’s family didn’t have much money and she wanted to go to school. When Beatrice received the goat from Heifer International, it helped her family get milk. Beatrice and her family drank the milk and they sold the extra milk to build a new house and send Beatrice and her brothers and sisters to school.

Seven students in our class (Mrs. Kay-Schiess’ class) did the Read to Feed project. We are interested in helping families so we raised money by reading chapter books. We told our families what Read to Feed was about, and they sponsored us by giving us enough money for the books we read. We earned $211.00. We raised enough money to buy a llama and two beehives. When we did Read to Feed, we felt proud to be helping families around the world.

Lauryn Vonderheide, Samantha Hebert, Ellis Civello, Rylee Jones, Kayla Trembly, Calay Paquette, Dominic Orzechowski

The Community Problem Solving class at Sanford High School has been going through the process of Service Learning all semester. Students identified and investigated problems and every student did a direct action project (see post from 12/6). The students learned that direct action is just one way to solve a problem. Educating the community about the problem or solution is another effective way to meet community needs.

For this project, students worked in small groups and with a community partner. They chose a topic they were interested in. Through meeting with community leaders who are working on this problem, as well as online research, students completed an exploring the problem outline. They recorded facts and used evidence to define the exact need or problem our community would be educated about within their chosen topic.

Next they met with Shannon Surran and Sarah Schnell from WSSR-TV. Students learned some basic filming and editing techniques. Sarah and Shannon did a workshop on how to create a storyboard for a Public Service Announcement. We watched a few PSAs and evaluated their effectiveness. The students in Community Problem Solving then worked with Shannon, Sarah, and members of Jamie Anderson’s Media program at SRTC to develop PSAs to educate our community about the problem they defined and explored. The students had a chance to shoot their own footage and edit the footage using Final Cut Pro.

After finishing their videos students reflected on what they learned about filmmaking and evaluated the effectiveness of the project. Many of their evaluations stated that the effectiveness depended on how many people actually saw the video. If you go to the Youtube links below, you can see the videos and notice the number of views. Some of the videos are being spread through social media and email allowing more people to learn about the problems and solutions the students care about.

Video #1

Students spoke with leaders at the Sanford School Department and Safe and Healthy Sanford Coalition to learn about bullying at Sanford Schools. They looked at the school climate surveys from last year. They hope to educate our community to understand that people come to school with diverse experiences and that school should be a safe positive place for everyone. Here is the video they created:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Xv0cWBmOM&feature=related

Video #2

Students met with Megan Walsh from The Substance Abuse Task Force and Office Gordon, the School Resource Officer. The students hope to educate the community that even though Marijuana is easy to get and accessible, it is illegal, unregulated, and dangerous. Here is the video they created:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypDS9V8qAeE&feature=related

Video #3

Students corresponded with an elementary school principal and guidance counselor. They looked at school climate data and researched the best ways to prevent bullying. They concluded that reporting bullying was an effective solution. They also took the suggestion of the elementary school guidance counselor to show the different roles there are in a bullying incident and to try to show how these people feel as they grow up. This video is meant to encourage elementary school students to do the right thing when it comes to bullying. The video is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBh66FvMka4

Video #4

One student met with Pam Belisle from the Parent Resource Center. She researched the brain development of children and how parents can support early learning. She created a video to show positive and negative parenting skills and how they can impact a child’s brain development (Coordinators Note: The baby in this video is by far the most adorable baby in the history of the world… I just wish she would sleep through the night)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUFdDPIXToI

 Video #5

Students met with the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk and studied their biggest issue, which is overpopulation. The students learned about the low cost spay and neuter clinic being an effective way to reduce unwanted pets. They created a PSA to advocate for the Spay and Neuter Clinic. This video is on the homepage for AWS and is getting a lot of views.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrmyRbDCxAE&feature=related