Tidepools, canoeing, hiking, forests, rivers, campfires—and a week of discovery in the Maine outdoors
Summer adventure is underway for Carver students at The Ecology School in Saco, Maine!
From August 7–14, Carver middle school students are spending a week at River Bend Farm, The Ecology School’s historic 105-acre campus along a scenic bend in the Saco River, just twenty minutes from the Maine coast.
Carver is deeply grateful to The Grossman Family Foundation, whose generous and visionary support makes this remarkable multi-year experience possible for our students.
Traditionally held in June, this year’s trip was rescheduled to August because of the extended school year. The timing may be different, but the experience remains one of the highlights of Carver’s summer.
One last call before the bus pulls away. For many of our students—and their parents—this is a milestone: a first week away from home, and for some, a first journey beyond Connecticut.
For a week, students trade their familiar surroundings for the woods, waters, fields, and coastline of Maine. They explore tidepools, canoe, hike, investigate forest and river ecosystems, take part in outdoor challenges and nature-based activities, and gather at the end of the day for reflection around the campfire.
Carver leaders Tricia Ciccone and Yasmin Baez
The experience is about much more than a week away from home.
Carver’s partnership with The Ecology School is designed as a multi-year journey through the middle school years and the early high school years. Each summer, a new cohort of rising sixth graders experiences the program for the first time. They return in subsequent summers, building on what they have learned and becoming increasingly confident in an environment that may once have been entirely unfamiliar.
By the time students make their final trip the summer before entering 10th grade, they are no longer simply campers discovering something new. They are experienced participants who can encourage and mentor the younger students arriving for the first time.
Novelette was joined for the send-off by other members of Carver’s program leadership team, including Chief Program Officer Brian Allert, Director of Elementary School Programs Tricia Ciccone, and Yasmin Baez, Carver’s program leader at Naramake Elementary School. Their presence was a fitting reflection of the relationships behind this experience. These Carver leaders know these students, work with them throughout the year, and were there to wish them well as they set off on a very different kind of classroom: a week of discovery in Maine.
Boarding the buses alongside the students was the Carver team that would accompany, encourage, and look after them throughout the week in Maine.
Yasmin Baez and Timmy Williams are serving as lead chaperones and leaders of the Maine experience, joined by returning staff Colin Page, Bria Schottland, Josh Taylor, Shondel Sloan, Angelo Parkingson, Robert Raphael, Rontishia Mikel, Nick Calabrese, and Lyeisha Pearson. Eryka Montgomery and Marcia Madrigal are joining the Carver team for the first time this year. They are taking on all the responsibilities that come with taking a group of young people far from home. We are deeply grateful to each of them for giving their time, energy, and care to make this extraordinary experience possible.
And waiting for them in Maine is another remarkable team: The Ecology School’s own educators and staff, ready to welcome the students into a week designed around the wonder of the natural world. Tidepools, forests, canoes, trails, creatures, and the ocean encountered up close, stars overhead, and discoveries impossible to make from behind a desk—all of it is waiting for them. The adventure has only just begun.
Learning by Exploring
The Ecology School’s Summer Ecology Academy turns the natural world into a classroom.
Its experienced educators use hands-on exploration to help students understand the interconnected ecosystems that make Maine distinctive. A walk through the woods, a paddle on the river, a close look at life in a tidepool, or the feel of soil and plants can become an opportunity to ask questions, make observations, and understand ecology in ways that cannot be replicated inside a classroom.
Students explore each day with their field groups and can participate in activities ranging from canoeing and hiking to nature challenges and art. Just as importantly, they learn to live together away from home—sharing responsibilities, trying unfamiliar things, developing independence, and looking out for one another.
For returning students, each summer offers the chance to see familiar places with new eyes. For those making the journey for the first time, an entirely new world is opening.
And, as she does each year, Carver CEO Novelette Peterkin will make her way to Maine next week to spend time with the students and experience their week at The Ecology School firsthand. The photos shared here were taken by Novelette this morning as she helped send the students off on their Maine adventure. It has become an annual tradition for her to be there at the beginning of their journey and then to join them later in the week—far from home, immersed in the outdoors, and eager to share what they have discovered and experienced.
Over the coming week, we look forward to sharing glimpses of their adventures from Maine—tidepools, canoes, trails, campfires, new friendships, and all the discoveries that happen along the way.
The last few images in the photo Gallery below are from hundreds taken in past years to show you what our students today will experience!
