Scott Wilhite, a CAD/STEM Engineering Instructor at the Tri-County Technical Center has been busy making 3D printed masks that could potentially be used to by healthcare professionals to protect them against COVID-19.

The Career and Technical Center (CTE) instructor’s wife heard about the critical shortages of protective equipment for hospitals on the news and challenged him to see if he could make one.

“Knowing that 3D printing is a large part of my program she challenged me to ask myself if I could help in a similar manner,” said Wilhite. “I researched the article and downloaded the source file into AutoCAD software and streamlined the design. I then uploaded it to a slicer known as Cura and printed the first prototype.”

With full support from his administration, he has since reached out to his local hospital to see if they can use the masks and has even been in touch with the Mayo hospital to offer the prototype as a resource on a larger scale.

Wilhite’s work background includes working for Maine companies such as Bath Iron Works and Cainbro and he has also owned an independent full-service automotive company. After 16 years of working in the trades, he returned to school not only as a student working towards a second master’s degree and a doctoral degree but to teach CADD and STEM Engineering classes for Tri County Tech Center in Dexter.

“I love CTE and I have designed my program to develop students not to just be users of technology, but innovators of it. In my classes, we build a great deal of our equipment. Especially 3D printers. When a student takes a box full of open source parts and builds something that works, in this case a 3D printer, they develop an intimate understanding of how it works. I have found that this also helps my students to get a better grasp on seeing things in the X, Y, Z context, making them a stronger CADD student. CTE is not just project-based learning, it is also problem solving, critical and analytical thinking education. We in the CTE world are not so much teaching our students “what” to think, but more importantly “how” to think. I guess that is what I love about this type of education model.”

In an otherwise isolating time, Maine Department of Education (DOE) staff have never felt more connected to Maine’s education field. Through daily virtual office hours, Maine DOE staff have been hosting content specific and mindfulness online meetings with school staff in an effort to answer questions, connect teachers and other school staff with one another, and offer resources and advice about how to provide remote learning and school support while school buildings are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The meetings have been a gift of time with Maine educators,” said Maine DOE Career and Education Development Specialist Diana Doiron. “We connect at a very human level, collectively sharing our questions, our insights, our worries, what is working well, and what resources are worth recommending to others.”

In daily email blasts to educators, school and district administrators, and other school personnel, DOE staff are sharing links to join various sessions held using online conferencing platforms. This allows anyone interested to join meetings remotely, see the faces and hear the voices of other education professionals from Maine who are experiencing, and in some cases overcoming, challenges like never before.

While school buildings are closed around the state, educators and other support staff are tasked with the unprecedented challenge of continuing to support and connect with their students, all while experiencing an unanticipated isolation, having to distance themselves from other people while COVID-19 creeps its way into communities across the globe.

“Every session has been exemplary and so helpful at this unusually confusing and difficult time,” said Woodside Elementary School Counselor Helene McGlauflin, who has been regularly attending sessions on social emotional learning and school mental health supports.

“I participated in two of his [Maine DOE Social Studies Specialist Joe Schmidt’s] office hours on Tuesday, and they were great, primarily in that they weren’t scripted,” said one of the participants. “He wanted teachers to set the agenda with their questions and concerns.”

Originally offered as a way to provide resources for remote learning for traditional education subject areas like math, social studies, and the arts, the popular sessions quickly expanded into other areas like special education, social emotional supports, and school finance, among many others topics. The virtual office hours have been widely attended by Maine school staff drawing anywhere from 50 to upwards of 300 people in some of the sessions. With an average of 30 sessions held per day since March 16th, the virtual meetings have drawn educators from other states and even some international participants.

“I’ve had tremendous response to these sessions,” said Maine DOE School Nurse Consultant Emily Poland. “I started providing sessions once per week, but now I do them twice weekly. Today there were 178 people on!”

An outside-the-box session with an element of well-being for school staff has recently been added to the mix. Fifteen-minute Brain Centered Emotional Support sessions are being offered at the beginning and end of each weekday to bolster resilience and provide a chance to connect and share space with school professionals around the state. The sessions are hosted by Maine DOE Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Specialist Kellie D. Bailey and Mental Health/School Counselor Specialist Bear Shea and have provided a space for educators and school staff to take a deep breath and be mindful of their own well-being before they try to address the needs of others.

“LOVED this today,” said MSAD 40 Assistant Superintendent Cristina Wotton after one of the first Brain Centered Emotional Support sessions. “I felt like jelly after, why do we resist taking care of ourselves? Thank you!”

“As a Special Services Department, we at MSAD 20 have greatly appreciated the timely and impactful support that we’ve received through the Brain Based Emotional Support sessions provided each day,” said MSAD 20 Director of Programs for Exceptional Children Eric McGough. “In our staff meetings, these are consistently brought up as being of great value not only to helping us design supportive experiences and resources for our students, but also in helping us carry on with our work during these difficult times.”

The Department has vowed to continue offering the virtual office hours for as long as needed in addition to continuing to provide a listing of resources for remote learning and support, as well as regular updates and other essential resources for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department is in the process of working with educators and school staff to provide more focused support sessions and virtual professional development options in addition to transitioning to more consistent virtual meeting schedule.

RSU 16 Teacher Valerie Young has created a YouTube channel to connect with all families in Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls.  She crafts challenges and ideas for home learning from using the Maine Gazetteer, to the sales flyer from the newspaper, to creating a haiku. Here is an example of one of her videos.

Young is helping #RSU16Learns while having fun!  Here is a link to see all of the videos in her YouTube Channel. She encourages everyone to join her!

Submitted by Amy Hediger, Assistant Superintendent at RSU 16 as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit stories or ideas, email them to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Maine DOE Team member Susan Wilson is being highlighted this week as part of the Get to know the DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Susan in the brief question and answer below.

What are your roles with DOE?

I am an Accounting Assistant Technician with the E.U.T. (Education in Unorganized Territories) I have multiple job tasks, but primarily I handle payroll and accounts payable for our three E.U.T. schools.

What do you like best about your job?

Besides the fantastic people I work with, I enjoy that I have a variety of tasks within my job description. It keeps things interesting!

How or why did you decide on this career?

Before coming to the E.U.T. I had worked many years in retail management, with the goal of owning my own store. A few years ago I decided that my goals had changed, and that I needed a new career path. The E.U.T. position was something that matched my skill set and the education world was something completely different for me. I applied and fortunately was offered the position.

What do you like to do outside of work for fun?

I enjoy spending time with family & friends, traveling to tropical locations, camping, and DIY home projects.

The Calais Elementary School School Nurse Mrs. White made the video introducing students to hospital staff and explaining what they do to help people and protect themselves when they are taking care of patients.

The video is meant to help ease some of the students’ anxieties related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Submitted by Sue Carter, Principal of Calais Elementary School and Calais Alternative School as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. If you want to submit a story or an idea, email it to rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Five Towns CSD has created a social distancing infographic that other schools are welcomed to use in their communities.

The Full infographic can be downloaded here

If other schools would like to use it, please contact Karin Leuthy at karinleuthy@gmail.com and she will customize it for you!

Strategic effort pays off, thanks to the Young School Team’s amazingly impressive collaborative effort! Young School staff members, radios in hand, ensure an efficient and effective means of distributing distant learning packets and reassurance to parents and students who arrived for pick-up from 2:00  p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 16, 2020.

Hats Off to the district’s many talented staff who lent their support, enthusiasm, and good humor during these trying times.

Team members take a well deserved break from preparing distance learning packets, as they enjoy lunch provided by the Young School PTO.

Submitted by Peter Harrison, Principal at Young School, Saco School Department as part of Maine DOE’s Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or idea, email it to Rachel Paling at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Lynn Snow, a fifth grade literacy and science teacher at Thomaston Grammar School, along with seven other teachers from around the country, has been selected as one of the the 2020 National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award winners.

The National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization (NAITCO), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Farm Credit partner each year to honor teachers in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade from around the country for the innovative ways they use agricultural concepts to teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies, STEM, STEAM and more.

“These teachers are great examples of how effective agricultural concepts can be in delivering important reading, writing, math, nutrition, science and social studies lessons to students,” said Dr. Scott Angle, director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which provides federal leadership and annual funding for NAITC. “The real-life connections teachers make by using items students use every day resonates with students.”

Lynn Snow ‘opens’ Common Ground Garden Seed Co. each spring. Students are involved in every aspect of the company beginning with applications and interviews to determine the jobs they will perform in packaging, marketing and managing the sale of bulk seeds to raise funds for the school garden.

Along with the other educators, Lynn will be honored at the 2020 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference “Agriculture Elevated” June 24-26 at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. Read the full press release from this announcement here, including a listing of the other educators being honored.

To learn more about NAITCO, please visit http://www.agclassroom.org.