KIDS Service-Learning Awards 2005

2005 Educational Leadership Awards

Mary Dyer, Winthrop High School

Mary Dyer has been a leader in promoting service-learning at Winthrop High School and in the community during the last three years. For two years, her art classes partnered with the Granite Hill Retirement Community, teaching art to seniors. This year, her classes are decorating the halls of Winthrop High School. Mary strongly believes in service-learning as a teaching methodology and this winter she led a student teacher in her classroom through his first service-learning experience. Mary is also a member of Winthrop’s service-learning Leadership Team and is the building coordinator for service-learning at the high school. Mary is passionate about connecting the school and the community and has been credited with helping to establish district-wide policy on service-learning by speaking with and involving school board members in the service-learning going on in the district. One school board member said to her, “Your service-learning project is the stuff that gets me excited about being on the Board of Education. This makes me so proud of our educational system in Winthrop.”

Linda Dunmore, Medway Middle School (Millinocket)

The Have A Heart Campaign at Medway Middle School has been transformed for 5th graders at the Medway Middle School thanks to Linda Dunmore. Beginning the campaign 7 years ago, Linda has worked hard to turn it into a true KIDS service-learning project. Linda has brought in community partners and experts from the local humane society to talk about what animals really need. Students then chose to focus on the spaying and neutering program offered by the humane society. They designed and distributed posters to educate people and raise money for the program. This year, with Linda’s guidance, they raised over $1,500! As they went, Linda worked to develop assessments of the students’ work. This campaign has spread to the entire school community thanks to Linda’s hard work. She is a model educator who has embraced service-learning and has succeeded in transforming her students’ ideas into a true service-learning project!

2005 Student Leadership Awards

Samantha Maquillan and Kevin Paine, Holden Middle School (MSAD 63 Holbrook)

Samantha Maquillan and Kevin Paine are wonderful exemplars of student leaders in service-learning. Introduced to service-learning through a partnership with LifeFlight of Maine, Kevin and Sam became deeply involved with an injury prevention project related to seatbelt and helmet use, which has since developed into curriculum. With their 5th grade classmates, they presented their work to former Governor Angus King, the local school board, other students, and the public at the Bangor Mall. Hearing about students’ attitudes about traveling at high rates of speed on ATVs and snowmobiles, Kevin extended the injury prevention project as a 6th grader, problem-solving this issue. Enlisting Sam’s help, the two gave a safety presentation to incoming 5th graders. Kevin and Sam have spoken to many other groups about their “Mission Possible: Agents of Change” project and they presented their work at the Hall of Flags last year. This year, as 8th graders, Sam and Kevin are still working on injury prevention issues. Along with doctors, nurses, LifeFlight Director Tom Judge, and others, they testified in support of LD 80, an act to amend the seatbelt law to make non-seatbelt use a primary offense in Maine. Sam has also been nominated for a “Teens Who Care” award and the Prudential Volunteer award and she is President of the Student Council. She continues her involvement in service-learning as a student voice on the MSAD #63 service-learning Design Team. Kevin has also been asked to share his experiences with education and service-learning in a phone interview with Frances Moore Lappe, portions of which will be included in the rewrite of The Quickening of America. Sam and Kevin’s work has proven them to be service-learning leaders and has contributed to the growing support for service-learning in MSAD #63.

2005 Community Partner Leadership Awards

Community Seeds, Bar Harbor, Dustin Eirdosh, Project Coordinator

Mount Desert Island High School has found a way to offer students integrated, hands-on experiences through their sustainable agriculture project, Community Seeds. Led by Dustin Eirdosh, students have established an organic community garden on school property and this year they have acquired and reconditioned a retired school bus into a rabbit hut and greenhouse. Providing mentoring and technical skills to the students and raising funds for the program, Dustin has helped make this service-learning based sustainable agriculture course a great success! Dustin has been a member of the service-learning movement at Mount Desert Island High School since its inception in 2003 and has developed a plan to nurture the community garden for at least two more years! Dustin’s hard work has really helped to increase district-wide support for service-learning, and the students have shared these experiences with their local school board, advocating for the continuation of a sustainable agriculture course at the high school.

Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Phil Morse, Director of Community Relations

Students at Mildred L. Day school in Arundel are learning about their local history through their “Save Our History” project with the Seashore Trolley Museum. Working with Phil Morse, who brought them the idea for this project, students are raising money to help with the restoration of Car #31, which is 105 years old this year. He has taken the facilitator role in the “Save Our History” project, supervising the students outside of normal school hours, coordinating field trips, and maintaining contact with all of the other community partners. Arundel students have partnered with Phil and the Seashore Trolley Museum for several other projects, including: restoring a waiting shelter and creating a multi-page newspaper pullout on the history of trolley cars in the area. Prior to his work on this project, Phil volunteered many hours with the Arundel schools, served as the service-learning coordinator in Arundel, and led the district’s service-learning leadership team. He is constantly looking for new leverage points to integrate service-learning into the culture of the school and even other districts. Phil is a great example of a community partner who understands the need for students to be involved in their community and supports and encourages their active engagement in service-learning!