KQED News Mind/Shift – Emily Kaplan
“The program is aimed at helping students feel connected to each other and their community in a place where — as in so many rural areas hit hard by the opioid epidemic and the 2008 recession — connectedness and a shared sense of purpose have been in short supply. Kelly Dole, the school’s science teacher, says that when she first started teaching at Telstar High School, in 1998, students were often unprepared for life after high school. Coming from rural townships in western Maine, half of them qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, and many were part of families experiencing unemployment, domestic violence or substance abuse. In her decades at the traditional high school, she saw her students becoming increasingly aimless and disengaged.” (more)