Students have the opportunity to design independent projects that meet standards in English, Social Studies, Science, and Math. They also engage in large scale projects with community partners and organizations. We are always open to new ideas and partnerships.
If you have an idea that you think may be a good fit, please fill out this form!
A student worked with Polly Minders, a MSK teacher, to refurbish and rodent proof the storage shed at the MSK ropes course. He added legs to lift the shed off the ground, incorporated a shelf and set of hooks to hang additional elements, installed a new roof, and moved the door to the front for easier access. He finished the project by painting the entire shed gray. The shed will store all of the ropes and cables that are used for the low ropes course at MSK.
A student worked with KLT Executive Director, Sandy Gilbreath, to write new trail descriptions with the lens of accessibility. As part of this project, he walked all of the trails to take detailed notes about the trail surface, possible barriers and obstacles, parking options, and areas of difficulty. He used his notes to write descriptions and used Canva to design a graphic to house both the description and the highlights. The graphic for each trail will be posted on the website and at trail Kiosks.
A student designed and built stackable cat houses to provide shelter for outdoor cats in the Portland community. The cat boxes will be donated to a local animal shelter.
In the process of designing the cat boxes, the student learned new carpentry skills including: tool safety, framing, insulating, siding, sanding, and painting. She liked learning how to use the saws in particular!
The final cat boxes are painted red with white trim.
A student worked with Cathy Clark from the Planeteers of Southern Maine, the Kennebunk Land Trust, and York County Audobon to design and build a nesting and roosting tower for Chimney Swifts. Chimney Swifts are unique in that they cannot perch on flat surfaces. They depend on chimneys and hollow trees to nest and roost because they can hang from the siding crevices. The tower that the student built mimics a chimney to make up for the disappearing habitat in town. The tower is about 10 feet tall and weighs roughly 400 pounds. It can be seen in the field at the For All Forever Preserve, a Kennebunk Land Trust property off route 99 in Kennebunk.
A student surveyed Alt Ed alumni, teachers, administrators, and parents to learn about the history of the program from 2005-present day. They compiled all of the information, quotes, and pictures into an interactive timeline that can be housed on our website. They also designed a large banner with quotes from each time period to hang in our classroom.
A student designed, built, and painted a cat house for their cats. The house is now a safe space for their cats and a place where they can eat their food without the worry of the dogs stealing it!
The entire design was developed by the student using inspiration from pinterest. This was their first ever build project and a good introduction to the construction skills!
A student has been working with Mr. Sharood to create a series of benches and shelves for the new Alt Ed Trailer. The trailer will house all of our tools and PPE. Now that it is mobile, we will be able to bring it to project sites around the community. The new organizational systems that the student is building will help keep the trailer organized and functional, which will make for a safer and more efficient work site.
A student has been studying all aspects of space- starting with learning about our planets, presenting to their peers on new advances in space exploration, and digging deep into how radioisotope power systems (RPS) works. They submitted an essay to NASA to suggest a mission to Hydra, one of Pluto's moons (pictured left), to explore the relationship to gravity and the differences in the surface as first observed by the Hubble Telescope in 2015. The student's essay also identifies what skills and qualities they could bring to the mission!
A student interviewed folks who knew Steve and Natalie Emmons to start to understand the history of the Emmons House on the Emmons Preserve. She used the information she collected from the interviews to start the process of writing a children's book to share this story- potentially on the Storybook Trail. The story highlights Steve's love of nature and birds as well as his incredibly generous donation to KCT. The story is being developed using Canva.
Director Orlando from the Seashore Trolley Museum asked if we could make 12 step stools to help folks get on and off of the trolley. A student took on the challenge to design a step stool that was easy to move around, to make, and met the criteria that Director Orlando set. The step stools, pictured to the left, came out so well! They are already in use at the museum. Head over there to check it out!
Students worked with the KHS Athletic Department to design a bridge around the discus area of the athletic complex. The bridge will allow both athletes and competitors to cross the drainage area safely during practices and events. This project included elements of both design and building.
Students worked with Ms. Thompson and Ms. Griffin to refinish the tables in the Kennebunk High School Library. They sanded the tables down to the natural wood, stained the tables a natural color, and applied layers of polyurethane to protect the tables for use by KHS students in the library. Students learned how to develop a system that could be replicated consistently and the basics of furniture refurbishing.
The tributary preserve is a new property in West Kennebunk. Representatives from the Kennebunk Land Trust worked with students to design bridges and boardwalks to make the new trail system accessible to visitors. They worked together to bring the lumber out to the sites of the bridges, build the boardwalks, and install the bridges. It was wet, humid, and quite buggy in the woods, but the students got it done! In total, they built over 100 ft of bridges for the property.
Last fall, Mr. Roddy came to the Alt Ed students to ask if anyone would be interested in building drawing horses for his Advanced Drawing and Painting classes. The purpose of the drawing horses is to give the artists a place to sit and the canvases and a support to lean against. The project was supported by an EFKA grant. An Alt Ed student stepped up to complete the project and ended up making 18 drawing horses for the art class. They are currently in use in Mr. Roddy’s classroom!
Students worked with staff at the Center for Wildlife to design enrichment for the ambassador animals. Picture above, two students made a stand for Zipper, the corn snake. The stand will allow staff to bring Zipper to exhibitions and display her in a way that shows her off and exercises her mind simultaneously. Other students made puzzles for the Raven, brushes for the turtle, mazes, and even a sensory “car wash” for the box turtle. Because the animals live in enclosures full time, mental and physical enrichment opportunities are so important for their quality of life. Students were able to use the design thinking process from start to finish to build pretty incredible tools for the CFW staff.
Students worked with representatives from the Environmental Action Team to design and build three picnic tables for the KHS courtyard. The picnic table materials were donated by the Class of 2023 and were built to last-- they are heavy! In the spring, the hope is that students in study halls, lunch, and classes being held outside, can use the tables to meet in groups or work on independent projects.
In partnership with the Brick Store Museum and The Planeteers of Southern Maine, a student developed a mural to demonstrate the importance of picking up after yourself at the beach. She used marine debris that was harvested from Parson’s beach to visually demonstrate how it affects the marine ecosystem. Additionally, she developed an interactive element for children which includes an I spy activity, a sound machine, and a “touch tank”. The project will be displayed at the Kennebunk Free Library and Brick Store Museum.
The renovation/restoration of the Emmons House started in September in 2022. The house is located on the property of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust Headquarters. The house is going to be used as an Alt Ed "classroom" and as a place for visitors to stay while they visit the trust. Mr. Sharood has been guiding the students through the process from getting funding for the project to replacing floors and windows. We all have been working hard on the renovation and it's amazing how far we've come. We can't wait to experience the final product.
An independent project this year was building bird feeder kits for one of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust's field trips. We all helped the kindergarten students put together the bird feeders using drills. For many of them, it was their first experience with power tools. They loved it and we had fun teaching them how to use the tools safely. Hopefully lots of birds will come to snack at their bird feeders this spring!
For Christmas, we went to St. Martha’s Church to help with holiday meal prep for Community Harvest's Noel Dinner. We packed plates, napkins, and bags while the other amazing volunteers helped cook and bring food to folks in need. The experience of giving back to the community during the holidays is one that means a lot to us. We hope to make it an annual tradition!
During the holidays, we took a trip to Kohls to buy some gifts for children in our community. Each of our groups was given a list for a kid with their clothing size and boot/shoe size and interests. We spent some time looking for gifts that we thought he kids would all enjoy. Everyone in Alt Ed loved this and are eager to do it again. The gifts were distributed and CS3's annual holiday party.
One of the indepdent projects during first quarter was the design and build of the leaf box for the maintenance department. The folks driving the trucks will suck up all of the leaves on the school properties and contain them in the box so that they can be moved to compost piles off campus.
At Cocoons we made an Abenaki Longhouse and made a new trail to get to it. We cleared out saplings from a property off site and carried them through the trail. We used birch trees to create a solid frame and then weaved saplings throughout the frame to create an enclosed structure. We then stripped birch bark off of the posts to use as protection from weather and rain on the roof. At the end, we invited all of the preschool students to come see the longhouse. We had a fire and sang songs. The end result was rewarding and the whole process was an amazing experience.
One of our biggest community partners is Kiauna Community Gardens. We have built almost all of the raised beds at both community gardens in town. They have recently asked us to make 22 more as the ones that they made out of hemlock have not held up so well. Quite a few of our students have helped put these together for them.
We do a lot of work with the Unified teams at Kennebunk High School. For the new bocce team, we are building a permanent outdoor bocce ball court. While this is one of our smaller projects, it has made a huge difference for our unified sports teams.
In the spring of 2022, the RSU21 Facilities Department reached out about the possibility of the program helping to weed, remulch, and plant new plants at Consolidated School's Outdoor Classroom. After several days of work and many popsicles later, the finished product looks beautiful. We hope that students at Consolidated will enjoy the space for many years to come.
Alternative Education students are working with the SeaShore Trolly Museum. Students worked to build shelving units, and worked digitally to help promote the Museum on social media. The Seashore Trolly Museum is a museum located in Kennebunk and is dedicated to storing and telling the history of trolleys in the world. The museum is home to one of the largest trolley museums in the world.
Alternative Education students worked with Community Outreach Services to help create flyers that would be hung up around Kennebunk to let others know about their services. COS helps provide people in town with food, heating and other necessities that may not be accessible to some. We helped create flyers about their specific needs program. Their fueling program, and their food donation program. Students partnered with Michelle Allen to help create flyers to spread the word about these programs.
For more information visit: www.coskennebunks.org
Students worked with the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust to collect data on the Emmons Preserve and the Meadow Woods Preserve. Students placed Game Cameras at 4 separate locations to observe wildlife activity. Throughout the course of four months, students collected pictures of deer, raccoon, coyote, squirrel, geese, bobcat, and turkey.
Data was reported to the conservation trust in an effort to document wildlife movement patterns on the new trust trails and properties.
The Alternative Education students created compost bins out of lobster traps and gave them to people in Kennebunk, Maine. It took about two months to finish this project, there were 100 compost bins that needed to be created and given away. We also made a handout to explain what can go into the compost bins and what can’t go in them. It also explained the science behind the compost bins. We worked with the Kennebunk Compost Working Group to get this project completed.
Students worked with district principals to design outdoor classrooms for all schools in RSU21 at the beginning of the 2021 school year. The outdoor classrooms allowed to students to engage in class projects, group discussions, and restorative circles outside of the school building. All materials for the outdoor classrooms were generously donated by Bob and Linda Zuke.
In memory of Sia, a KES student who passed away last year, we worked on a fairy garden for Kennebunk Elementary School. We built and installed wind chimes, a trellis, and bird houses. We listened to the radio as we worked on what Sia would have loved, it was an amazing opportunity and I think I speak for everyone when I say we were grateful to work on the garden.
Photo from Seacoastonline.com article.
When the Kennebunk Rec Daycare shut down we were tasked with organizing the contents of the building. We sorted what could be donated to other daycares and preschools and what had to be trashed over the course of a week. We ended up donating multiple tubs of toys and different playhouse equipment to different centers all around our area.
The fit trail is a .33 mile long trail located at the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust headquarters, it has ten stations with exercises that can suit different ages and abilities. This project has been going on for three years now. The ribbon cutting ceremony will be in the Spring of 2020.
Interested in sponsoring a station or donating to the project? Email us, jholmes@rsu21.net.
Students have been working on a storage shed for the Arundel Parks and Rec Department. The shed will store equipment for the recreation programs. It is located on the side of the ML Day school in Arundel. This has been an ongoing project in which the students have learned the basics of carpentry.
In the winter of 2019, students built 10 cedar raised beds for Kennebunk's Community Gardeners. In the spring, students filled the raised beds with super soil, which will help the gardeners grow produce, which will be donated to local food banks and shelters.
The beds are located at the Holland Road Community Garden.
Holy. Crap.
At the end of quarter three, Alternative Education students came together to do something significant and help the ocean. This ties in with the theme of quarter three, Ocean Health; which focused on the problems facing the Gulf of Maine as an ecosystem. Two of the things that we focused on trying to reduce were plastics and invasive Green Crabs. What we found surprised all of us. 75% of the trash we collected was... DOG POOP BAGS. Yuck.
The latest project was making sandwich boards for the Eastern Trail. The Alt. Ed Program worked with Nancy Borg and she is on the staff of the Eastern Trail Alliance. The Eastern Trail is a community walking and biking path. The sandwich boards were built in order to communicate information to people on the trail. The boards are placed at important locations. The project was finished in May 2018.
Alternative Education students took a bit of time to make shelves for both the STEM Lab, and the science department at KHS in an effort to aid them in settling in to their new classrooms with lots of space to store materials.
The students in the Alternative Education program worked in partnership with Kurt Hissong, to recreate a pathway from the trolleys to the back trolley barn at the Seashore Trolley Museum. The pathway was created in the 1970's but has since overgrown with weeds and grass. The students spread new stone dust, donated by Hissong, onto the path and lined the path with edging to prevent future overgrowth.
"The Little Boat That Could", a partnership between Alternative Education, The Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, The Landing School, and Educational Passages, has been featured in several newspapers and on Channel 13 News! Click the links to read the articles and watch the clip!
Josh Ellis, the project manager on the boat project, also wrote a press release and summary of the project. See the links below to learn more!
"I have figured out what I want to do after high school because of this class. A lot of the career exploration components are really useful....just gathering data and assessing what's good and what's not when you are looking at college and career schools...checking around and asking questions is something you don't do in normal school."
- Josh Ellis '17
