Mano Staff Attend The Impact of Poverty on Education Conference at UMO
Mano en Mano staff members Kate Brinks, Bethany Woods and Ana Blagojevic attended The Impact of Poverty on Education: How Educators Can Be the Difference conference at the University of Maine in Orono on October 18th, 2013. Dr. Donna Beegle was the keynote speaker and Suzen Polk-Hoffses of Milbridge Elementary was a speaker on the panel discussion. Dr. Beegle was an extremely dynamic speaker
Mano en Mano Americorps Member Works with Milbridge Kindergarten Class
The funding for my Americorps position with Mano en Mano comes from a Goodwill program called Great Strides Rural Education Corps. The program places volunteers in rural communities in order to mentor students to encourage academic engagement. I met Suzen Polk-Hoffses through Comienza en Casa and quickly found out that she had a large kindergarten class this year. After talking, we decided that it
Mano en Mano Hosts Bowdoin Orientation Group
In late August, we were pleased to host a Freshman Orientation group from Bowdoin College in Brunswick. This is the second year that Mano en Mano has participated in the orientation trips. Incoming freshmen have the option of going on adventure and hiking trips or participating in community service work in various locations around Maine. Organized by the McKeen Center for the Common Good
Meet Mano en Mano’s New Americorps Member
We’d like to introduce you to Kate Brinks, our new Americorps member! We’re so glad that she is joining us for the coming year at Mano en Mano and we asked Kate a few questions to get to know her a little better. Welcome Kate! Where are you from and what did you do before moving to Maine? I am from Grand Rapids, Michigan
A New Season of Comienza en Casa | It Starts at Home
Once again Comienza en Casa | It Starts at Home — a program of Mano en Mano and the Maine Migrant Education Program — is gearing up for an invigorating Fall! The first Friday of September, families and students met at the Milbridge Elementary School to learn about the first unit of the fall season — Color Explorers! While sticking with traditional early learning themes
Migrant Education Students Explore UMM Campus
A special highlight of the Maine Migrant Education Program’s educational services provided to older youth during the 2013 wild blueberry harvest was the overnight college exploratory visit to the University of Maine at Machias. Building on the success of last year’s day trip to UMM, this year’s program was facilitated Jenny Robish, the University’s Youth Outreach Coordinator, and offered the students more opportunity to
Blueberry Harvest School: Three Weeks of Fun!
This year Mano en Mano was fortunate to have been contracted by the Maine Migrant Education Program to run the annual Blueberry Harvest School, held in Harrington, ME (Washington County) to serve the children from 3 to 13 years old of migrant blueberry rakers and workers. The school is just concluding three weeks of serious fun. This year’s peak day saw over 90 children
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Reflects on Migrant Education Internship
Two months ago I returned to the hustle and bustle of American life after two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua. Having lived in a small community of 160 Spanish speakers I was instantly overwhelmed by the fast paced lifestyle of American culture. Luckily a friend suggested taking on a month long internship at Mano en Mano and I have since found
Student Attends Weeklong Environmental Science Camp in Machias
The MESSY Camp is a week-long overnight summer camp sponsored by the University of Maine at Machias (UMM). This year’s theme was Global Climate Change, and students worked on a variety of hands-on projects with a professor from UMM. Students helped collect data and discussed various aspects of global warming that were of concern to environments around Machias, from small stream to salmon-filled rivers
Summer Program Leadership Days
Last Saturday marked the second Maine Migrant Education Leadership Day for our Summer 2013 season. Nine youth between the ages of 14 and 21 have participated in the Leadership days. Corrie Hunkler, who lives locally and worked with our youth program last summer, designed the curriculum and has been a lead facilitator. She brings a great deal of experience from past work with Outward