Dixfield students enriched by New England travels
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – Over the past several months, Bob Staples’ assignment has been to enrich the minds of a group of middle school students.

But in doing so, the students and their experiences while on recent outings to Boston and Maine’s State Capitol building in Augusta, have also enriched Staples’ mind.

At the T.W. Kelly Dirigo Middle School, Staples coordinates the Horizons Club, an after-school enrichment program.

Many of the club’s students had never been outside of Maine, let alone SAD 21 towns of Canton, Carthage and Dixfield, Staples said.

That’s why the club’s March 22 trip to Boston’s Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Technology was a thrill that went way beyond the youths rural parameters.

Riding the subway – Boston’s ‘T’ metro rail system – was also an unexpected delight, said chaperone Jay Bernard.

“As the train got under way, it became apparent that some of the students had never experienced this before and I saw the excitement in their eyes as the train accelerated and descended below the city streets,” Bernard said.

In small groups, 21 club members and 11 chaperones, explored the aquarium.

“I liked the aquarium because I really like marine animals a lot and I didn’t know what a lot of the ocean animals were,” said student Lindsay McKeen, whose favorite marine mammals are harbor seals.

Bernard said that a student in his group was entranced by a marine biologist scuba diving with great tortoises and sharks in the multistory aquarium at the building’s center.

“She professed there and then that this is what she was going to do for a living,” he added.

The students then moved into an IMAX theater to view the three-dimensional movie, “The Living Sea,” on eight-story high picture screens.

“It made it seem like the fish were swimming out of the screen at you. It was not uncommon to observe a student reaching out to try to touch a sea animal swimming at them,” Bernard said.

Student Chelsea Bernard said she liked the hands-on exhibits best at the aquarium and museum because they “were a lot more fun than reading the stupid museum cards.”

After that full day of fun, adventure, exploration and learning, 19 club members next traveled to Augusta on April 15 to learn about Maine’s government.

But the coolest thing about that trip was sitting in on former U.S. Senator George Mitchell’s talk about his national scholarships program.

“We happened to get there at the right time and got into the balcony to hear Senator Mitchell speak,” Staples said.

But Mitchell left before the youths could meet him.

However, their disappointment quickly dissipated upon meeting Gov. John Baldacci.

“The governor is just like a regular guy,” said D.J. Gerrish said. “There’s nothing really weird about him.”

Student Nichole Berry thought otherwise.

“I think the governor was nice but he has this Indian cane and has golf balls in his closet and was doing putts with it in his office on his green carpet,” Berry said.

Staples said the “Indian cane” was actually an Irish shillelagh.

In addition to exploring the Capitol, the students toured legislative offices, acted as pages following an instructional meeting with Sen. Bruce Bryant, visited the state library, and sat in on a Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife meeting.

Now the club is currently assembling PowerPoint presentations to show off what they’ve learned in their travels.

The Horizons Club is sponsored by a grant from Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, which helps prepare them for college and “helps pay for the stuff we need at school,” Berry added.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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