South Bristol, Maine. With iron-clad pike poles and 4-foot sawblades in hand, the members of Austin Muir’s Chewonki Waypoint team jumped into the thick of a traditional ice harvest at Thompson Pond last Sunday, February 17. The annual ice harvest, organized by the Thompson Ice House Harvesting Museum, attracted over 100 visitors, including Chewonki’s eight…
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Polar Bear-able Fun
Seventh-graders from the Elementary School at Chewonki, along with their teacher and several other Chewonki staff, ventured 135 miles north last week to camp for three nights and four days at Big Wood Pond in Jackman, Maine. The beauty was breathtaking and so, at times, was the temperature, which ranged from 20℉ to -20℉, with…
Digging in to Semester 62
It’s 5 degrees under a blue sky and the 41 new students of Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki are digging in. They have only been here 10 days but they are starting to look right at home. They know where to eat, take a shower, compost, and find their classes (“Where’s the Fish Bowl?”). They…
Many Thanks to Don Lamson, Retiring from Big Eddy
A familiar figure on Chewonki Neck and at Chewonki’s Big Eddy Cabins and Campground in the North Woods for nearly two decades, Don Lamson is setting off on a new adventure: retirement. We couldn’t be happier for him. We appreciate all the care he has given to Chewonki people and places. Luckily, his wife, Dot…
Beyond Borders: Experiential Education Through the Lens of Equity and Justice.
Many enthusiastic educators, says Chewonki Team Development Coordinator Shelly Gibson, “tend to think of experiential education as synonymous with outdoor adventure.” Four days with 149 colleagues from around North America at the Independent Schools Experiential Education Network (ISEEN) Winter Institute reinforced for her that experiential education can happen anywhere, indoors and outdoors, on mountaintops and…
Remembering Robert Niss
With the arrival of 62nd group of Maine Coast Semester students this week, “all hands” have been busy with cleaning and organizing. Greg Shute, our senior vice president, uncovered a few dusty gems in the back of the library that are worth sharing, in particular, a copy of Faces of Maine, by Chewonki alumn Bob…
Connecting the Dots: Students Take a Deeper Look at Community Connections
Bath, Maine. With high-fives and fancy handshakes, students from Bath Middle School and Woolwich Central School welcomed eleven local community leaders to a special “Waypoint Community Panel” on January 22 at Bath Middle School. The event was designed to engage students in civic life, and help shape their understanding of the work it takes to…
Welcome Semester 62!
On Wednesday we welcomed 41 students from 18 states and 36 high schools for Semester 62. We couldn’t be more excited for the four months ahead!
Family Update Friday, January 18, 2019
Storytelling and snow sports have dominated this past week in the Grades 4/5/6 classroom. As our mythology studies have progressed, students have not only begun to analyze the content of different myths, but the way in which they have been told and passed down through history. On Monday students were able to begin plotting out…
Welcome Wodin, the One-Eyed Screech Owl
On Thursday, Traveling Natural History Program Educator Colleen Moureaux introduced Wodin, a full-grown Eastern screech owl (Megascops asio), to an enthusiastic crowd in the Wallace dining hall. Moureaux was helping the young owl get accustomed to strangers, movement, and noise, as part of preparing him to appear in educational presentations (often in front of a lot…
