In the spring of 2022, Mt. Ararat High School developed the Community Pathways Program to help students explore learning outside the classroom. Doug Ware, Community Pathways Coordinator, shares how their relationship with MFC has impacted the program.
Mt. Ararat High School and its Community Pathways program are incredibly grateful for our partnership with, and generous support from, the Merrymeeting Food Council. Community Pathways aims to advance our students’ passions, interests, and aspirations by connecting them to community, career, and creative opportunities. Harriet, Jamie, and Kate have been amazing in their contributions to this goal, directly and indirectly touching the lives of so many of our students.
Our initial interactions began with efforts to connect Mt. Ararat students to MFC’s Farm Skills Training Program. Conversations quickly led to other ways in which we might be able to work with MFC and its network of partners to provide student experiences that highlight local, sustainable food systems. Our school and community garden, Project GROW, was just getting started at about this same time. MFC supported our planning team as they worked to develop partnerships and gather resources. In a little over a year’s time the garden has blossomed into a campus focal point, with students, staff, and community members included in the garden club membership. Project GROW has also served as a means to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of education – integrating the sciences, the arts, and the community. The garden grounds were recently the site of a natural sculpture workshop and artist reception featuring internationally celebrated artists Patrick and Sam Dougherty. Relatedly, we have three students who are engaging in an aquaponics independent study this year. They began their journey with an incredible field trip visit to Canopy Farms, a local business that had been recommended by MFC as one that was seeking to engage with students.
MFC has also worked directly with us in planning and partner recruitment for field trips and guest speaker discussion panels. Our first panel focused on local, sustainable agricultural systems with Ben Whatley (Whatley Farm), Julia Nelson (Midcoast Hunger Prevention/Merrymeeting Gleaners), and Kate Wallace (MFC Farm Skills Training) presenting and speaking with students. A second panel addressed sustainable aquaculture with Jaclyn Robidoux (Maine Sea Grant) and Dan Devereaux (Mere Point Oyster Company) speaking about their work in seaweed and shellfish aquaculture, respectively. The presenters in both events exhibited passion for their work and facilitated rich and engaging dialogue with students. A recent field trip involving multiple schools focused on career opportunities and entrepreneurship at the Landing in Brunswick. MFC recruited Ben Slayton of Harvest Maine and Nate Wildes of Flight Deck/and Live & Work in Maine to discuss their entrepreneurship in value added food systems. After participating in the discussion panel, Ben Whatley also hosted a visit to his farm from our Advanced Placement Human Geography classes. Those students learned about the various aspects of the Whatley Farm business – from planning, to the science of growing, to water and land management, to distribution and accounting, to time management. They then spent the second half of the day at Pineland Farms to understand the various aspects of the dairy operation there.
In our year and a half as a nascent program, Mt. Ararat’s Community Pathways has supported independent studies and internships that engage students with fisheries, vegetable production, and land conservation/ stewardship. We currently have two students enrolled in MFC’s Farm Skills Training program, and hope that that number will increase in the coming years. Looking to a future in which we hope to expand such offerings and opportunities, we see MFC as a key partner in our our work to connect our students not only to their passions and aspirations, but also to their natural environments and local food systems.
Thank you Merrymeeting Food Council!