Travel / Exchange

Stella L took a break from the traditional classroom setting to experience a Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki! This hands-on, experiential learning environment included backcountry adventures, science field labs, and daily opportunities to learn about sustainable living.

Here is a blog Stella wrote about her experience with An Ex-STREAM-ly Fun Field Lab:

When I first came to Chewonki, I was the most nervous about our field labs. Five hours in the woods? In Maine? I thought I was going to be cold and that the class would be confusing, but it has grown to be one of my favorite parts of my experience at Chewonki. Every week on either Tuesday or Thursday, we go out to some part of the ecosystem around us and learn about it!

Last Tuesday, we went to a stream ecology lab in Montsweag Brook. Before we left, we had to get on the proper attire, our big boots! I was a little nervous but it turns out the boots were more comfortable than I thought they would be, and they were fashionable. During the lab, we got to collect, identify, and catalog macro-invertebrates from the stream. We used nets and had to stomp around in the creek bed to get the invertebrates to swim into our nets. Then we had to pick out and identify the different things we caught. This was super fun to get to learn about the roles that these animals play in the ecology of the stream. One thing we learned about was how invertebrates in rivers are strong indicators of stream health. From the data we collected we found that the stream was pretty clean!

Having the opportunity to learn about this part of Maine’s ecosystems was incredibly fun. I love getting to learn in a hands-on way and getting to see exactly what I was learning about. Some of the invertebrates that we identified were stonefly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, and dopson flies, along with many others. Getting to collect data and compare my group’s results with other groups was my favorite part of this lab. I loved seeing all of the different animals that we found and being able to use the dichotomous key to identify the animals that we found.

Even now, days after our lab, I keep thinking back to that trip. I loved that we not only go to learn about the ecology of the coast, but I also got to learn practical skills.

CHS junior Zoë L. spent her fall semester at Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki, and this photo shows her enjoying a canoe trip on the Moose River!

Here is her personal reflection on the experience:

During the fall semester I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the Maine Coast Semester Program at Chewonki. I, along with 42 juniors from across the country spent the semester learning all about the ecology of midcoast Maine. We also spent time working on the farm, camping, and exploring the woods around the school. Every week we got to practice our fieldwork skills in a different place along the coast, such as a salt marsh, and a bog. Some of my favorite parts were the field lab to Pemaquid point, the solo camping, and working on the farm after school. Even though a lot of the semester was different from past years due to covid-19, I was grateful to be able to have in person classes, and visit new places.

Sophomores, if you’re interested in learning more about Chewonki for your junior year get in touch with Meg!

Daniel reflects on his experience here:

“During the semester-long class I learned a lot about space exploration, NASA‘s previous and upcoming projects, engineering design processes, and wrote a ton of APA essays. During the summer academy, I spent four intense days planning a long-term habitation mission to Mars with the ‘Science and Surface Operations’ team. During those days there were presentations from subject-matter experts and even an astronaut.”

The Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars (VASTS) program is an interactive on-line science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning experience, highlighted by a seven-day residential summer academy at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

Students selected to participate in the program are immersed in NASA-related research through interaction with scientists, engineers and technologists. The program is a partnership between the Virginia Space Grant Consortium, NASA Langley Research Center, The Commonwealth of Virginia and Industry.