Sebago Elementary has approximately 100 students and a community that is hugely supportive and proud of their school. Brenda McGuinness is an Art Teacher at Sebago Elementary School one day per week along with music teacher Jennifer Null and instrumental music teacher Lindsay Waller. In March they were making final plans for the second annual Arts Festival to be held on April 14th. Unfortunately, like events all over the world, the school Arts Festival was canceled.

With a strong desire to showcase the talents and efforts of their students, they worked hard to bring the first Virtual Arts Festival into the homes of students, their families and the community in an alternative way.

Using photographs of the art projects from each grade throughout the year as well as the various events students were involved in throughout the state, along with emailed photos of student art work during remote learning, they made a memorable slideshow of art adventures for the 2019/2020 school year.

• View the visual art portion of our Virtual Arts Festival 2020
• View a collection of musical performances from students

“The reaction from our students and families to our Virtual Arts Festival has been wonderful and I feel delighted to have been able to present them with this event,” said Brenda in an email to the DOE.

This story was submitted by Brenda McGuinness, Art Teacher, Sebago Elementary School as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. to submit a story email Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Vinalhaven’s K-12 Visual Arts Teacher Heather White just couldn’t end the year without an Art Show.

“Students created so many cool ‘things’ in the art room this year, and it’s important, now more than ever, to share that work,” said Heather in an email to the Maine DOE.

Instead of having an in-person event this year, Heather got busy creating a website that showcases the work of students at Vinalhaven School so that it can be seen and appreciated by students, their families, the community, and beyond.

“It’s fun to think that instead of just sharing this year’s art work with our island community, we are able to share it with anyone in the world,” added Heather.

Check out the Vinalhaven School K-12 19/20 Virtual Art Show here!

This story was shared by Heather White, K-12 Visual Arts Teacher, Vinalhaven School as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story, email it to Rachel Paling at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Kirsten Arndt is without a doubt one of the best art teachers in the state of Maine. Her classes are overflowing with aspiring artists who are drawn to her compassionate and supportive nature. We have so much interest we often have a waiting list for students to get in.

One or two times a year Kirsten, with the help of her students, put together an art show hosted at Oak HIll HIgh School. Unfortunately, with the onset of the pandemic, like everything else, changes to the art show had to be made. Kirsten jumped at the chance to do the art show in a different format. Ms. Arndt compiled a number of works from her students and put them together in a video presentation.

We put the presentation out through email and our Oak Hill High School Facebook page and received such a positive response we wanted to share it with you. The presentation is a testimony to Ms. Arndt’s dedication to her students and her craft. 

Submitted by Marco E. Aliberti, Principal of Oak Hill High School as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Every year around this time RSU 14 starts to highlight the Senior class and their achievements as they take their next steps down the career paths they’ve chosen. But Austin Merkle is an example of one Senior who hasn’t waited for graduation to take solid steps towards his goals. 

Austin has actually been pursuing his career since before high school, starting his work as a Junior Firefighter six years ago. Austin chose this path in order to follow in the footsteps of his father, who has been a firefighter for more than two decades and who he credits for giving him the desire to be a firefighter as a career path.

“I was raised to work hard and do what I can to help others,” Austin says, “This is a dangerous job that is hard on your body. It takes a lot of heart and a lot of commitment and a lot of training, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Austin has taken every opportunity over the last 6 years to dig into his passion for firefighting, participating in dozens of trainings to help hone his skills. Even tasks that seem incredibly simple require specific training under the types of circumstances firefighters are often in.

“One of the most important things you learn early on is how to breathe correctly,” Austin says, “ When I first started I could burn through our ½ hour tanks in 10 minutes. But firefighters use a technique called ‘skip breathing’ to conserve oxygen.”

Austin’s training didn’t stay with the basics. Over the years, he has done everything from Search and Rescue training to training in car extractions and ice water rescues, dedicating hundreds of hours to becoming the best firefighter he can be.

So while many students are planning for future careers right now, Austin’s career isn’t in the future at all.

Austin Merkle is living out his career, right now, as a firefighter.

This story was submitted by Lanet Hane, Director of Community Connections, RSU 14 as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Lyseth Elementary School, home of the only public Spanish immersion program in Maine, has won the Ministry of Education, Embassy of Spain’s School of the Year 2020 Award in the elementary school category.

The Portland Board of Public Education and Superintendent Xavier Botana honored Lyseth for the achievement at the Board’s April 28 meeting. Lyseth Principal Lenore Williams; Carlos Gómez, the district’s Director of Language Development; World Language Specialist Annemarie Orth, Spanish immersion program teachers and students and families were all recognized for helping to foster and grow the program.

The school learned about the award earlier this month. A ceremony was planned for early May in Washington D.C., but now is postponed to the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 30 schools from across the country applied for the award and two schools emerged as winners. Lyseth is the recipient at the elementary level. A school in Florida, the Coral Way K-8 Center, was the middle school selection.

In announcing Lyseth’s award, the Ministry of Education congratulated the school for its “outstanding immersion program.” The ministry said Lyseth was selected for a variety of reasons, among them “the administrative team’s and staff’s enthusiasm and dedication to the Spanish language and culture.”

The immersion program was begun at Lyseth in 2014 with one kindergarten cohort, spearheaded by Grace Valenzuela, now the district’s Executive Director of Communications and Community Partnerships, and former superintendent Emmanuel Caulk. A new class was added each year. There is now an immersion classroom at each grade level from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Superintendent Botana said, “The Portland Public Schools is proud that Lyseth Elementary School has been recognized for its unique immersion program. Spanish is the second most-spoken language in the United States and biliteracy in Spanish and English is an important skill that makes students attractive to college admissions offices and future employers. We’re very grateful for all the work by dedicated staff, students and families that have made this program such a success.”

The Ministry of Education said the “school is working hard so their students meet the state requirements to earn the Seal of Biliteracy on their diplomas, once again showing their commitment to bilingualism.” Also, the ministry said, there are “multiple samples of the presence of the Spanish language throughout the school. Its library stands out with plenty of resources for bilingual learning and education, classroom decorations, and the Museums of Mexican and Spanish Art, which foster an interest in the culture of Spanish-speaking countries. Spanish signs and posters are visible throughout the school’s common areas.”

The ministry added, “The jury was impressed by the quality of the audiovisual information provided about the projects and educational programs they carry out in their Spanish immersion program.”

Casco Bay High School science teacher Anne Loughlin and her engineering students are among the grand prize winners in this year’s Autodesk Make It Real Challenge 2020, an engineering competition. The win means CBHS will receive more than $10,000 in makerspace tools for its DIY lab.

an emergency shelter made from shipping containers,

an affordable housing design with a portable, solar-powered heater for the homeless population, and a caddy for collecting gray water.

“I am so proud of Ms. Loughlin and our engineering students for their creative and provocative solutions for addressing knotty, vital tech and social justice challenges,” said CBHS Principal Derek Pierce. “Hooray for Anne and her students!”

Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries.

This year’s contest was directed at educators in New England interested in teaching their students how to make a difference through design. There were three Grand Prize winners in the 2020 contest: Linden STEAM Academy in Malden, Mass., Jackson/Mann K-8 School in Boston and Casco Bay High School.

In the contest’s Make Justice challenge, Loughlin led her students in researching issues of poverty, disaster relief, and affordable housing, according to the company’s blog post on the winners. https://blog.tinkercad.com/make-it-real-2020-grand-prize-award-winners

Loughlin explained that her students did research on the future of housing to understand the innovations that are currently on their way to the marketplace. “We continually looked at meeting the needs of the users of these products. We started with the empathy resources that were provided [in the ‘Make Justice’ challenge.],” she said. “After creating their initial sketches, we did a tuning protocol where they got feedback from peers on their designs.”

Loughlin encouraged students to design for the context of their oceanside community — resulting in innovative ideas such as a tidally influenced generator. Her students used a variety of Autodesk tools, such as Formit for affordable housing design and Fusion 360 to visualize concepts such as a portable, solar-powered heater for the homeless population, and a caddy for collecting gray water, the blog said.

“I think as much as possible, [the students] tended to think about their projects in the context of our community, Portland, and what they have seen and experienced. Our school serves a large immigrant community,” said Loughlin, whose students include refugees fleeing violence and persecution. “Issues of poverty are part of daily life for many of my students. This also provides a personal perspective on the needs of the user.”

Designs like an emergency shelter made from shipping containers had personal meaning for students whose families had emigrated as refugees.

Loughlin has been teaching science in Portland Schools since 1991. Ms. Loughlin earned recognition as one of the nation’s top teachers by winning the prestigious Milken Award in 2003. Loughlin created CBHS’ Digital Fabrication lab and teaches engineering, STEM investigations and AP environmental science.