Westbrook Students Explore Maine Wildlife Through Intercultural Community Center’s Power Summer Program

This summer, like many others, students at Westbrook Middle School entering grades 5–8 had the opportunity to attend Power Summer at the Intercultural Community Center. This was a free summer program that ran from June 22 to August 8 and provided both social and academic enrichment to students from immigrant families and those experiencing academic challenges.

The program also provided students with two free meals a day, including breakfast and lunch, as well as two snacks and access to fresh and pantry-stable food each week, thanks to the Locker Project.

This summer, 45 students registered for Power Summer. In addition to the Intercultural Community Center’s regular English Language Arts (ELA) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Environment, Arts, and Math) programming, they provided students with experiences as Junior Animal Activists.

Thanks to many community partners, including Riding to the Top Stable, Maine Outdoor Equity Fund, Smiling Hill Farm, Mr. Drew and His Animals Too, Maine Wildlife Park, and others, students were able to take part in many amazing field trips and activities throughout the state.

These experiences taught students the importance of protecting the diverse array of animals in our ecosystem. Creating safe, positive opportunities to interact with animals was especially meaningful for students. Research and community experience have shown that BIPOC (black, indigenous, and People of Color) families can experience greater fear or discomfort around animals when they have had fewer opportunities to encounter them in safe, supportive settings. Power Summer helped students build confidence and positive relationships with animals through hands-on experiences, field trips, and repeated opportunities to learn about wildlife.

Students engaged in therapeutic interactions with horses every week, built 15 bird and bat houses over the course of the summer, explored the vast marine life along the shores and beaches of Maine’s coast, put on a theatrical rendition of the play Zoodate, and learned about and interacted with many other species of wildlife during the seven weeks of programming.

Many of the students who attended Power Summer have signed up for Intercultural Community Center’s after-school educational and social program, Power School.

This story was submitted by the Intercultural Community Center. Learn more about their programs by visiting the Intercultural Community Center website or contacting them at info@iccmaine.org. To submit a good news story to the Maine DOE, please fill out the good news submission form.

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