Summer Program
Making Waves: An Interdisciplinary Learning Expedition in the Penobscot and Gulf of Maine Watersheds
In order to extend our understanding of the Connecticut River watershed shared by these three schools, students will explore neighboring Maine watersheds as a way of gaining new perspectives and insights. By linking the Connecticut River and Maine watersheds in this way, students will join a wider community of local stewards, global citizens, and interconnected changemakers advocating for environmental conservation and justice.
As we hike, float, and paddle, we will encounter firsthand the land, river, and seascapes of this region and the people who call it home, engaging with the complex narratives they tell. Students will engage in conversations with local experts in art, working waterfronts, ecology, and Indigenous culture, among other areas. These local stakeholders will help us contemplate how watersheds create living places and how people shape their lives and livelihoods within them.
The program encourages students to explore the Maine coast’s significance through diverse perspectives, while fostering intellectual diversity through conversations across disciplines. By the time we pull our kayaks out of the water, we will have developed an intellectual, emotional, and embodied understanding of this place as both a socioecological entity and a metaphor for something larger: living well in a place wherever we go.
Northfield Mount Hermon students will join Loomis Chaffee and Deerfield Academy students to participate in the “Making Waves” expedition, a multi-modality interdisciplinary learning adventure via hiking, rafting, and sea kayaking to explore the Penobscot River and Gulf of Maine watersheds.
