BETHEL — “I would be struggling a lot more if I didn’t have Project Opportunity. Because there is no way I could pay, especially sophomore year when I didn’t have a job,” said Shye Buck, a dual enrollment student at Telstar and Central Maine Community College (CCMC).

“They [Project Opportunity] have helped me tremendously. They have paid for all of my textbooks. They also paid for one of my classes. In my junior year, I used up all the free college credits and I really wanted to take another class. I wrote to them to ask if they could help pay for my class and they paid it, in full. So I got to take an extra class. They have also paid half of my driver’s ed class, so I could drive back and forth to CMCC,” said Buck.

“This is what we want,” said Charlie Raymond, Project Opportunity board member, former dean of students and former teacher at Telstar. Raymond and the board are seeking more students, like Buck who are eager to learn and need funding.

Project Opportunity helped start the Telstar dual enrollment program initiated by Superintendent David Murphy in 2013. But the group goes further, offering funding for all kinds of learning. Grants and scholarships for sixth through twelfth graders are available for almost anything a student is interested in pursuing, not only post secondary education.

Raymond recalled past projects. There were the three students who worked together to build a solar car and another who wanted to learn falconry.

Owen O’Connell wrote to the committee in September of 2021. Since it was his senior year at Telstar and he didn’t need many credits, he hoped to build a boat in his spare time. The completed project would qualify him an Associates Degree and other certifications before he even began matriculating at his chosen post graduate school, The Landing School of Boat Building and Design. Project Opportunity awarded O’Connell a $2,500 grant.

On Feb. 8, O’Connell, responded via Instagram that he is currently attending the Landing School for Marine Systems this year and will attend marina management next year. He is also studying for his 100-Ton Captain’s license. “I am learning so much and having so much fun. getting the chance to try to build a boat (it’s not finished, yet) really helped me decide that the boating industry is something I want to pursue. I’m so grateful for the Project Opportunity folks and the teachers who helped me set up my proposal.” Under his Instagram comment he sent a video of a the wooden boat he is building.

“We’re trying to encourage those kinds of kids. That have an interesting idea but don’t have the starter money,” said Raymond.

In 1989, Telstar Dean of Students John Eliot, was a high school senior. He and Alison Davis were the first recipients of a scholarship from Project Opportunity.  “A $1,000 scholarship may not sound like a lot when you look at the total cost of college, but when I received my scholarship it made me feel like someone actually believed in me. I felt encouraged to go on to school and do something. It sparked my adventure as a lifelong learner and now the circle is complete. I am helping others like the program helped me,” said Eliot, a board member.

Besides individual requests, Project Opportunity has funded groups of students traveling to foreign countries and attending enrichment programs. They back the Telstar Freshmen Academy trip to Washington, DC and the boys and girls state delegates.

Buck, 18, of Bethel was a sophomore when she moved from Skowhegan. “At Telstar, people started showing me these opportunities and considered me able to do AP classes.  When I was at Skowhegan I would never have thought I was capable of taking an AP class or college classes in general,” said Buck. She said, after doing well in an AP English class, “that was huge, I was really scared of  doing it…that’s how I gained the confidence.”

She commutes an hour each way to CCMC,  three days a week. Because she only has her permit, her mom goes, too.  She hopes to take the money she has saved working 16 hours a week at the Bethel Foodliner, to live on campus next year.

She took seven General Education on-line classes before she started the in person program. “So, this year I could do classes pertaining to my degree, which is graphic communications,” said Buck. She plans to graduate in the Spring of 2024.

There were six students in the dual-enrollment program at the start of the year, but now there are just two, Buck and another student. Lately, as few as half the senior class applies for funding from Project Opportunity. “The whole senior class is begged to write an application, they have to write an essay.” says Raymond. But many don’t.

Additionally, some of the Project Opportunity students who received a scholarship at graduation, don’t bother to submit their transcript and have their check mailed.

In reaction to these issues, the board decided to increase the pool and start with a younger population. Currently children as young as grade six can apply. They have asked teachers to incorporate their application into the 7Peaks program, a class where students build a portfolio over several years.

Project Opportunity also changed the ratio, increasing the pot for students seeking grant money versus those interested in a scholarship (or college aid).

Buck credits Chyanna Millett-Cordwell, who teaches Jobs for Maine Grads at Telstar, about the classes she could take  at CCMC. Millett-Cordwell gave her advice for scheduling her classes and told her about Project Opportunity, too.

A financial aid officer at CCMC has told Buck she will need $1,000 to $2,000 per semester. “I’ve been saving money from working at the IGA, for living on campus.” So far she has enough for one semester. “I’m continuing to save…I’m trying to save as much as I can,” said Buck.

In the meantime she was contacted through Project Opportunity, “by a very generous lady. Lida Isles has been helping me pay for gas to go back and forth and she is also willing to pay for other expenses,” said Buck.

In March, Project Opportunity will meet for a retreat at the 4H center in Bryant Pond to re-chart its mission. Founder, Les Otten, will be there as will other members and community leaders.

When the fund began in 1988, 20% of Telstar students dropped out before completing four years of high school.  Forty percent of the 1987 class did not plan to pursue any further formal education. The group felt, “the need for local initiatives to help raise student awareness is clear.”

According to Eliot, the Telstar class of 2023 has 44 students; 6% of students (3 total) dropped out or were unenrolled this year. Sixty-six percent of the class (29 students) has applied to two- and four-year colleges or trade schools; 14% of the class (6 students) are currently employed locally and intend to continue that employment after graduation. Two percent of the class (1 student) are enlisting in the military. The final remainder, 12% has not shared plans or are undecided at this time. Eliot said this percentage will go down as they get closer to graduation.

The Project Opportunity start-up money of $45,000 came from Sunday River Ski Resort which, according to the early literature, also “expects to contribute $30,000 for the next few years.” The fund was divided into two parts: 30% to the aspirations account and 70% to the scholarship fund. “The accumulated interest and probably some of the annual contributions will be used to finance scholarships.”

In 1988, two examples they hoped whole high school classes would be able to attend for free were Outward Bound and NTL ( National Training Laboratories).

Raymond said the pool of money from year to year remains the same no matter how many applicants apply. The fact that so few students apply is a frustration facing the board and is something that they’d like to look at more carefully.

While the fund is well endowed with over a million dollars in it, once a year, high school students in the Future Business Leaders of America club also sit at a telephone bank to raise money and keep the capital stable.

Board members are: former Telstar Principal Ted Davis, the longest serving member; Eliot; Raymond; Marjorie Osgood; Josh Mallory; Jamie Hastings; Claire Carver; Marjorie Osgood and Lyndsey Smith. Michelle Cole, (current executive director), represents Les Otten. Longtime board members Stan Howe and Dan Cummings both retired last fall.

Raymond said when, as dean of students, he went to conferences in other parts of the state, people often asked how they were able to do dual enrollment, Outward Bound and other extra curricular activities. “Telstar was the best kept secret in the state … we had staff that cared.” Of Project Opportunity, Raymond says, “We know we’re doing good things, but could we do it better?”

In the near future, Shye Buck is hopeful she’ll find a local graphic designer that will give her an internship, “doing page lay out, pamphlets, magazines, and posters,” she said.

Currently she is working on her 7Peaks senior capstone. She gets to choose how she will present the project and is leaning toward speaking to the entire school.  “I want to use my capstone as a thank-you to the people who really helped me get to where I am … Miss Millett-Cordwell and Project Opportunity are the reason I’m here, doing what I’m doing,” said Buck.