Spring 2022 Intensives
Here is a sampling of what CBHS students were up to during
Spring Intensives 2022!
Junior Journey!
Portland and Brunswick Working with Artist Pamela Moulton on Her Upcoming Payson Park Installation - "Every Tree Tells a Story"
Hiking and Working With Scientists and National Park Rangers at the Schoodic Institute (a part of Acadia)!
Writing and the Outdoors
In the Writing Outdoors Intensive, despite the mix of rain and sunshine, we managed to write some pretty powerful stuff about nature, in the form of poems, short stories, nature essays, and even haikus. We started off on Monday here at Casco Bay, walking the local trails and writing some letters to trees and even a campfire. Tuesday, as dreary and rainy as it was, we hiked Bradbury Mountain, and did some sightseeing and created metaphors with the things we saw on the mountain's edge. Wednesday, we went to Pineland Farms and saw the most adorable baby cows and many other animals. We even made ice cream! Thursday, we explored the Audubon, writing about crossings and even the visits from the Turkey embassy. We also wandered the trails on Mackworth Island and read poems about geese! Friday we took a visit to Two Lights and then afterwards, performed our final pieces that we’ve been working on during this week.
~ Lily Waterman and Megan Koren
The spirit of man and nature contains a strong bond. Perhaps as children born from these very lands we inherit a kinship with them. In my intensive I’ve begun to think a lot about this connection, a subtle belonging. I grew a greater appreciation of nature as my ears were filled with wind and waves abandoning the voice of man in place of nature’s. In this wacky Venn diagram, helping build and strengthen my connection with nature reinforced and created connections with the people around me. A comfort of sharing these spaces with these people began to fill within me as I enjoyed nature in and without solitude.
~ Otis McCanna
Food from the Ground up!
In this intensive we were at an extension of the University of Maine in Farmington and learned about how foods are made. Most notably, we made our very own ketchup, split into three groups, and made lunch for one of the days. On Wednesday, the group made spring rolls, on Thursday, pizza was made, and on Friday the group made stir fry.
~ Silvio Morales
Graphic Novels
Besides what is described below we also had fun doing drawing warmups, gallery critiques, reading graphic novels by Derf Backderf, meeting Derf Backderf and sharing out about our work.
Afro Beats
This week we learned a bunch of dance routines that consist of Afro Beats, step, and hiphop. We learned from Veeva, a PATHS dance teacher, and she taught us many moves that came from countries in Africa like South Africa, Congo, and Nigeria. We did a bunch of dance challenges and formed the moves we learned into dances for a tiktok. It was really fun, and I want to take an intensive with Veeva again next year.
~ Neema Bizimana
Aquaculture (Algae)
Career Exploration
By Deven Abrams
Over the past five days, Casco Bay High School students pursued internships in careers they are interested in. The students pursued internships in fields ranging a wide variety of topics, from working in art studios to working at the Roux Institute of Northeastern University in Portland. Wherever those students went, they learned skills such as how to have a supervisor, how to ask for help in a job, and how to act based on which job they were shadowing. They also learned crucial skills about those specific jobs, and thus many of them became more interested in whatever field they chose to intern in.
Quotations from the Week
“I found the people at my internship to be friendly and informative.” - Deven Abrams, after interning at Spinnaker Trust
“It was really fun and interesting getting to know new people and learning about how their work is from what they studied in college.” - Jayden Montero, after interning at Roux Institute
“ I’m so super impressed and I would love to have her back. I would love to hire her.” - Erin Flett, owner of Erin Flett Studios retail store, on Liv Ivy
“It was really lovely having Lucy here for the week! She was up to any task, relaxed if there was down time and fun to talk to!” - Hope Hall, Sunflower (Goat) Farm, on Lucy Chabert-Wentworth
Scroll the photos!
Lifetime Recreation
By Alvaro Pulido Ladero
Lifetime recreation was a really fun intensive where we tried a bunch of new sports like spikeball, squash, and wallyball and many more fun sports. At the end of the intensive, something I loved is that everyone in the intensive connected with each other, and it was like a small family of freshmen, sophomores, and seniors. I would really recommend this intensive if you like sports or if you want to try new things.
Queer History and Activism
The Queer History and Activism intensive learned about several important parts of Queer history and how activism and the aesthetics played a part. On the first day we learned about important Queer vocab and and Queerness in Native cultures, with a focus on two spirited people. The day ended with independent reading and small group discussions on what we learned about two spirited people and the affect of colonization had on Queer Natives. On the second day the morning was spent learning about Stonewall. Stonewall was a Gay bar that when raided by police began a series of protests and demonstrations. In the afternoon 4 local activists came in to answer questions about their experiences, one of whom was a Casco Bay alumni. On Wednesday the first half of the day was used to learn about the AIDS crisis and how activists responded. There were also opportunities to work on independent block prints that represent everyone's take away from the history learned. That afternoon everyone went to the USM library’s LGBTQ+ special collection. The purpose was to learn about Queer history in Maine by looking at and learning about artifacts. The next day was also split in half. The first was spent with full class discussions about gender, sex, and gender roles and how they affect Queer people. The 2nd half was downtown were everyone went on a Queer history scavenger hunt and went to Pickwick. Pickwick is a print press that tries to make printmaking accessible and makes prints about politics and social justice. On our final day, everyone finished their block prints and wrote artist statements that explain what inspired their artwork.
~ Sophia Chouinard
Fiber Arts
This spring, the Fiber Arts Maker Space was hopping! We sewed wallets & tote bags, rompers & pillows, knitted scarves & crocheted octopuses, and learned the Japanese art of sashiko stitching!
America's Game
In the intensive, America's Game, we tackled racial issues within the NFL and presented about the history of hair, unequal pay, the crown act, micro aggression, and many more issues. Along with the presentation, we also watched “Colin in Black And White,” a Netflix series where Colin Kaepernick shared his story of being raised by two white parents as a black kid in a majority white populated area and his journey to the NFL. Within that same week, we also tested and practiced what we could do on the field. We played flag football with our teams in a tournament style way.
~ Sumaya
Escape Rooms
This week in designing escape rooms we experienced escape rooms in a new way, combining cryptography and creative game design to create our own virtual escape rooms. We started the week off exploring the math behind deciphering codes. We practiced using permutations and probability to find the complexity of different codes/locks and looked at examples of codes used throughout history. In preparation for our own designs, we visited Escape Room Brunswick, and got the opportunity to experience a professional escape room. There, we saw different types of puzzles and gathered ideas for our own escape rooms. Unlike most escape rooms, ours were created virtually with a program called CoSpaces. We used what we had learned about cryptography and what we observed in the escape rooms to code puzzles, riddles, and clues, in the end creating our very own escape rooms.
By Kendall Shaughnessy
Native Plants
