This year, I’ve taken on a new role a few hours each week coordinating community engagement projects at Friends School of Portland. Now that the year is well underway and I’ve had time to settle this role, I wanted to share a little bit about some of the goals for this work as well as some of the projects I’ve been working on so far. I have been interested in this type of work--helping connect our school community with the greater Portland community (and beyond)--for a number of years. Faculty, staff, parents, and students are interested in projects that feel authentic, connect and incorporate the Quaker values, enrich students’ learning experience, and help strengthen our community.
Stewardship and community are at the core of our school’s values. One goal of this role is to assist each classroom in bringing these tenets to the forefront of the work and projects taking place. Initially, I am facilitating these efforts by checking in with teachers on a regular basis, learning about local needs and resources, and making connections that will help deepen our engagement with the greater Portland community.
My work so far has included collaborating with teachers to both inventory current efforts/projects and brainstorm potential community engagement projects that connect their curricular work to needs and efforts already underway in the community. I have also spent time reaching out to organizations in the Portland area in an effort to establish long term community partnerships, with the goal of deepening connections that FSP already has with many of these organizations (Wayside Food Programs, Friends of Casco Bay, Falmouth Land Trust, to name a few).
Another component of my work has been researching the community outreach and service work efforts at other schools - especially Quaker schools - to talk to the people involved in that work. A few common themes have emerged during these discussions, most notably the importance of truly listening and learning from our community, rather than making assumptions about what we might have to offer.
Two projects to highlight so far are the Casco Bay Ecosystem unit and stewardship of FSP’s Lost and Found:
This year, the third and fourth-grade teaching team looked to include studying and honoring Native peoples in their approach to their biennial Casco Bay unit. Lindsay, 3-4 teacher, and I reached out to a number of organizations suggested by the First Light Learning Journey, a program “whose purpose is to build awareness and understanding about Wabanaki land loss in Maine...and practice equitable principles for Native engagement.” Lindsay is in the process of following up on a way to collaborate with one of these organizations.
This year, the 1-2 classes are taking on a stewardship service project in collaboration with Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS). Students in the 1-2 will become the stewards of the school’s lost and found “collection.” Every few weeks, our students will collect, sort through, and return lost and found items and will then donate any remaining clothing and gear to MEIRS. This project enables students to take ownership of a school-wide stewardship effort, while also broadening their understanding of and involvement in the world around them.
My hope is that this new role will continue to help FSP widen our circles beyond our campus in ways that strengthen our community and inspire our students to become thoughtful, engaged, and active citizens. If you have ideas about potential projects, people to connect with, etc., please email me at katie@friendsschoolportland.org and stay tuned for future updates!