Category: Alumni & Friends

Alumni & Friends

Majora Inspiration

Last week we were thrilled to host acclaimed Social-Entrepreneur, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, and MacArthur Genius, Majora Carter, as part of our Friday Night Speaker Series.

Read More »
Alumni & Friends

Forrest Nonconformist: Alumn Rethinks Reforestation

“If you wanted to reforest the Chewonki Farm, you wouldn’t plant trees. You would simply stop mowing. We have all these promising carbon-offset programs, but they are disconnected from reality.” -Forrest Fleischman

Since his early days as a Chewonki camper, student, and staffer in the 1990s and 2000s, Forrest Fleischman has become a leading expert in forest policy and governance. An associate professor in the Department of Forest Resources at the University of Minnesota, Fleischman’s work examines the intersection of scientific knowledge, government expertise, and civic engagement in policy-making and implementation and the outcomes of resulting policies [1]. His ideas have been featured by ProPublica, the BBC, NPR, Science News, and many others.

Read More »
Alumni & Friends

Alumna BLOOMs with Bigelow Labs

Congratulations to Maine Coast Semester 67 Alumna, Sophia Kovacs (Morse High School, Bath, ME), who recently completed Bigelow Laboratory’s Keller BLOOM Program. BLOOM (Bigelow Laboratory Orders of Magnitude) is a week-long ocean science-intensive that invites high school juniors to work side-by-side with Bigelow’s marine biologists.

Read More »
Alumni & Friends

Reunited and It Feels So Good

Last Wednesday, Chewonki Alumni & Friends gathered at Lamplighter Brewing’s newest taproom to happily celebrate spring’s return, rekindle relationships, and sample Lamplighter’s yummy beers and charcuterie boards. The festive occasion – our first since the onset of Covid – was attended by over 40 alumni and former staff members.

Read More »
Alumni & Friends

Chewonki ABCs from 1934

In our early days, Chewonki campers could earn writing “credits” by submitting content to founder Clarence Allen’s monthly family bulletin, called the Chronicle. Campers reported on camp adventures and wrote jokes, poems, and short pieces of fiction (most of which borrowed plot elements from the era’s action/adventure films). 

Allen included Chewonki ABCs in the August 19, 1934, Chronicle edition. It is unattributed, and likely written by a camper.

Read More »
An undated photo from our early days, likely the 1930's
Alumni & Friends

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.

Read More »
Alumni & Friends

Watch: BIPOC Mentorship Program Panel Discussion

Watch the recording of Program Spotlight: Connecting Students and Alumni Through Our BIPOC Mentorship Program. We created this program in 2020 to provide additional support for Maine Coast Semester students who identify as members of underrepresented communities by pairing them with near-peer mentors.

Read More »
Alumni & Friends

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.”

Read More »
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use this website.