Alexis Grillo

The Cross-Disciplinary Future of Land Stewardship?

For the past three years, alumna Sarah Klain has been collaborating with the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation to create a land stewardship plan for Boa Ogoi, a 585-acre parcel in southeastern Idaho where the US Army Cavalry and settlers massacred over 400 tribe members in 1863. But, how does one begin to “restore” land in a climate-changed future?

Trading a Smartphone for a Scrapbook

It seems crazy, but it’s true: Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki students willingly turn in their smartphones upon arrival, and they don’t get them back until they leave four months later. What’s crazier is that our students love their break from technology. Without a smartphone in their pocket, they have to get creative about documenting their experience–a challenge that semester 67 student Sophia Waterson (The Brearley School, NY) clearly relished.

Training with the Best to Prepare for the Worst

According to Greg Shute, Chewonki’s Director of Northwoods and Coastal Properties, it was 1992 when Chewonki first hosted a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course taught by Wilderness Medical Associates International.  Since then, Chewonki remains one of WMAI’s longest-standing hosts, and the “Winter WFR at the Wonk ” is considered one of the more challenging courses around.  That’s mostly because of the weather, but it’s balanced by Chewonki being known as one of the warmest and most welcoming host sites anywhere on the circuit.  

Meet a Mentor: Jhovaé Irving

Jhovaé Irving is an alumna of Maine Coast Semester 48 and one of our BIPOC Mentorship program volunteers. We created the mentorship program in 2020 to provide additional support for semester students who identify as members of minoritized racial groups by pairing them with neer-peer mentors. Irving says volunteering has been a learning experience for her as well, “I’m in awe of how differently [my mentees] have approached uncomfortable topics. They’ve shown me how to be braver and speak up a little more, even if it’s on a thorny subject.”

An undated photo from our early days, likely the 1930's

Read “A Woodchuck’s Dream” From 1928

Read the delightful story, “A Woodchuck’s Dream,” an unattributed short story published in one of the earliest Chewonki Chronicles, circa 1928. In the story, a Woodchuck group (the moniker for our youngest campers at the time) is enchanted away from their cabin in the middle of the night by a stupendous discovery. But, their wonder quickly turns to terror as they confront a monstrous foe in the woods.

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