In January, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from Monhegan, Isle au Haut, Islesford and Matinicus gathered in Bar Harbor for the 2nd annual Island Middle-Schoolers’ Retreat. (Frenchboro would also have participated, but that island has no middle-school students this year.)
The 15 students who gathered at the Atlantic Oakes were hardly in for a weekend of silence and solitude. Quite the contrary: the happy racket coming from the hotel’s conference room scarcely sounded like a “retreat” in the usual sense of the word. For two days and two nights, these island students socialized and swam, worked on team-building activities, trusted each other, stretched their courage just a bit, dared to stand up in front of everybody and act silly, created art, talked about goals and plans, and hopefully came away reminded that they are a part of a larger community, one which really is paying attention to what they’re about to do: leave home.
For the smaller islands that serve their students with one-room schools, the transition to high school is anything but routine. Each family must make its own arrangements, each ninth-grader potentially headed somewhere different. High school enrollment isn’t just a matter of course. Some students will ride a mail boat every day, with the knowledge that if they miss the boat, they’re likely out of luck. Some students head off for boarding schools in Maine or further afield (island student applicants seem to be welcomed by these schools, some of which offer significant scholarships.) Some board with friends or relatives on the mainland or on larger islands that have high schools.
Rob Benson, the Maine Sea Coast Mission “pastor to the outer islands” (a.k.a. SUNBEAM minister) and Lisa Turner of Isle au Haut conceived of this annual gathering of middle-schoolers as a way to offer strength and support to these kids, without inventing a problem that doesn’t exist.
“This is not sink-or-swim junior high social boot camp,” says Benson.
The retreat is so-called in part to differentiate it from a “school field trip,” which normally wouldn’t be optional. It is also intended to leave the door open should the opportunity present itself to delve into what Rob calls “the deeper landscape” within. Although island churches may help with logistics or expenses, a local church in Camden helped a lot with last year’s retreat, and the Maine Sea Coast Mission helps significantly with finances. But this is not a “religious retreat” or a “churchy” experience.
Charlie Harrington of the Ed Greaves Educational (EdGE) Program ran the ice-breaking, get-to-know-each-other, team-building games, those raucous and sometimes hilarious exercises in high-speed nonsense which get us all past our defenses, and help us forget to worry about our adolescent “image.” EdGE has been described as an “in-school and after-school enrichment program for Washington County middle-schoolers.” Founded four years ago, under the auspices of the Maine Sea Coast Mission, the EdGE was named for Ed Greaves, who although terminally ill at the time, began the process that resulted in this dream of solid academic and social support for fifth- through eighth -graders on the somewhat remote Downeast coast.
“Partnering with the EdGE was an obvious thing,” said Benson. “They know middle schoolers and they know all the games and processes to quickly construct a team identity.”
A special treat for this year’s group was the invitation to courage and goofiness offered by two folks from ImprovAcadia. After some initial hesitation, (not unlike what most who don’t feel themselves to be ham actors might feel) the group was soon entertaining each other with various types of improvisational comedy, including “Doctor Know-it-all,” where three or four people link arms to become a highly respected multi-headed expert, who fields audience questions which “he” must spontaneously answer with only one word at a time from each of his mouths!
On Sunday, while the sixth- and seventh-graders worked on the annual T-shirt design, the eighth-graders (and a few lucky adult helpers) went off to a surprise off-site location, the All Fired Up ceramic studio in Bar Harbor, where each student was given a mug to decorate with glazes and make his or her own.
With delicious pizza from Little Anthony’s, more “games” (which were really opportunities to talk seriously if briefly about cooperation, goals, and such,) and plenty of time for swimming in the Atlantic Oakes’ pool (David from Matinicus’ favorite activity, by the way), the weekend was an all-around good time for everyone involved. This included the adults and one chaperone who started out by saying “I could happily go a long time without another team-building game,” but who before long was volunteering for “doctor know-it-all.”
Participating in this year’s retreat were Melissa, Hannah, Gretchen, Frances and Ben from Islesford; Claire from Monhegan; Sarai, Nick, Justina, Geneva, and Vicki from Isle au Haut; and David, Devon, Chris and Emily from Matinicus. Also assisting were Kipp Quinby of Isle au Haut, now a student at the College of the Atlantic; Tara Hire of Monhegan; Lisa Turner of Isle au Haut; Margaret Blank of Islesford; Pat and John Walchli (and yours truly) from Matinicus; Charlie Harrington from the EdGE and Rob Benson. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful retreat…this year’s sixth- and seventh-graders are looking forward to next year!