Dirigo High School graduate/Bowdoin College student Alexa Kaubris is working on an Androscoggin River public opinion survey and environmental project. She visited the high school to report on her project and is shown with Principal Dan Hart.

Dirigo school graduate reports on river project

DIXFIELD – Alexa Kaubris, Dirigo High School Class of 2005 valedictorian and a junior at Bowdoin College, was the guest speaker at Dirigo High School’s January’s Student of the Month Assembly.

Kaubris gave a presentation on her environmental policy course opinion survey and project, collecting data for the Androscoggin River Alliance.

Kaubris said the project is helping raise awareness about the uses of the river and the political process of environmental measures. One of the focus areas of the course is the power of “bottom-up regulation” rather than relying on the government to set all the standards.

Kaubris said, “The thinking is that the people who live around the river know it best and should have control over how it is managed.”

She also spoke on the background history of the river and shared data already collected from high schools in the Brunswick and Lewiston-Auburn areas.

Dirigo High School staff and students recently completed the Bowdoin College/Androscoggin River Alliance public opinion survey that asked about individual uses and awareness of the Androscoggin River.

Kaubris will return to Dirigo High School to follow up the survey data with students, staff and school board and present the next steps in the Androscoggin River Alliance/Bowdoin College project.