The campus was nearly empty during Spring Intensives this year for much of the week, but that's because the learning was happening EVERYWHERE - in Acadia and on Peak's Island, in music studios and squash courts, in medical facilities and news stations, in mosques and college campuses. CBHS students made gorgeous pottery and original music and podcasts. They hiked in snow storms and studied the symmetry in nature. They interned with local professionals and studied with local spiritual leaders. It was, once again, one of the most fun and impactful weeks of the year. Discover how and why below.

Junior Journey

Celebrating Our Librarian!

Audubon

Designing for a Cause

Internships

Kinetic Sculpture

Outdoor Adventure

Pottery

Rewatchables

Songwriting

Squash

Symmetry

Junior Journey

Junior Journey began on Monday, when we all arrived with our luggage. We did a few activities, like gathering data in the woods behind the school and working together on the ropes course to prepare us for the team-building and research activities we would be doing on the trip. On Tuesday, we all arrived at school, where we were met by the buses. We had been separated into two groups— Lunar and Solar— and we boarded the buses by group. After a three-hour drive, we reached the Schoodic Institute. There, we ate lunch, set up our rooms, and were introduced to the facilities by the staff. We then walked to Schoodic Point, where we saw the ocean and took our class photo. On Wednesday, we split into Lunar and Solar groups again. The Solar group went to the coast to collect data on green crabs, and the Lunar group went into Acadia National Park to go on hikes and admire the natural beauty of the park. On Thursday, there was a blizzard, so rather than doing more fieldwork, we stayed inside and crafted, played board games, or watched movies. At the end of the night, we had a talent show, where students showed off talents such as playing the drums or burping the ABCs. Ms Nicholson and Mr Murray closed out the talent show with a rousing performance of ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, and then the faculty ended the night with a series of impressions of each other. On Friday, we packed up, ate breakfast, and went home with lots of new stories and experiences to share.

By Sophie Kilbreth

Celebrating our Librarian!

Audubon

The Audubon intensive was an amazing week of learning. This intensive invited various experts on native wildlife and plant life to teach about migration, the importance of the relationships between native plants and wildlife on the ecosystem, and human’s impact on these relationships and our ecosystem. We spent this week observing various biomes within Maine on trails from Gilsland farms to Baxter Woods to the trail behind our school. We learned skills that a naturalist needs to know including how to use binoculars, to collecting data in a field journal and how to identify birds with various apps.

The main takeaway I walked away with was the importance of how interconnected native plants and wildlife are. Taking away one species endangers many others because of the lack of resources. Examples of this are how monarchs are endangered because milkweed, the plant these insects lay their eggs on, is scarce. If a monarch can not find a milkweed, the butterfly will continue looking until they die because they can not lay their eggs on any plant but the milkweed. All native species are in a similar predicament as the monarch and milkweed. Educating ourselves about the importance of the support of native plants is vital to the survival of our native ecosystems.

By Diego Drozd

Designing for a Cause

During the week of intensives, we had the opportunity to carry out several fun activities that made us very proud to design for a cause

of our choice. The purpose of the intensive was to design a website with an infographic, video and resources for a cause that interested us. For example, kids had the chance to promote environmental causes and clubs/X-blocks. It was wonderful that one of the participants in this intensive decided to promote the cause of bullying and how to stop it. On the first day we brainstormed ideas that we could work on. On the second day we learned how to make infographics with the help of Canva and websites using Google Sites. On the third day we went to the local news station Channel 8 in the morning where we learned how people work hard just so we can see the current events from home. In the afternoon we got to tour Maine College of Art, where we saw several art forms that were beautiful and interesting. During the tour of MECA we learned that there are various courses that are available for students during their college years there, for example sculpting, graphic design and printmaking. Finally, we made videos for our causes and went outside to get re-energized and enjoy the solar eclipse, a beautiful celestial event.

by Priscila Mavungo and Jedida Mayamba

 

Internships

During Intensives,  I participated in the internship intensive.  16 students and I interned with different hosts all around Portland. For my internship, I interned with Victoria Morales, a past state representative, lawyer, and leader of the QHC: The Quality Housing Coalition. During my internship, I went to an event for the QHC and I listened to the speeches. The speeches were about the program and why they did what they did. Peace, a member of Project HOME, told a beautiful story about how she had to decide whether to give her child to a stranger or let him stay in the cold just to receive some help in her time of need. Project HOME focuses on helping single moms/low-income moms with support. They give them money and trust that they will use the money to buy groceries and other things like clothes and basic necessities their kids need. During the week Ms. Morales had me make slides about how financial insecurity and housing insecurity can affect students and their living situations. We focused on the statistics and data and found out a lot of important facts about this issue.

By Fatimah Alzamili

Kinetic Sculpture

In the Kinetic Sculpture intensive, we learned about the different ways things move and how to recreate this movement with different

materials. To do this we learned how to make systems such as pulley systems and wire and cardboard automata. We also went to the Botanical gardens where we looked at kinetic sculptures made by professionals and noticed how we could apply how they function to our final projects. To make our final projects, we chose an animal and studied the way it moved. We then created a prototype of our project, then eventually started working on the final. We used what we learned about pulley systems and different types of automata to create our projects. A highlight of this intensive for me was finally getting my moving pieces to work. It was a big accomplishment and I had worked hard to make it work. If you are someone who is interested in building, making things move, and learning new ways of art, this would be a great intensive for you.

By Maddie Conley

 

Outdoor Adventure

For intensives, I was a part of the Outdoor Adventure Intensive. We spent the week in beautiful Mt. Desert Island in Acadia. On the first day, We went for a 1 and ½ hour walk and we did some games and activities related to mental health. We also got to work with the MANA PROGRAM, One of the activities we did was making letters to our future selves. We talked about our mental health. And how people in our society can make an impact in the world today. On the second day we did a longer, 2 hour hike. It was beautiful and really windy. We got snowed in on Thursday and played in the snow. We also got to rock climb. We had a basketball court and little bicycles available 24/7. This intensives helped some of us to better our mental health and it helped us realize that sometimes it’s okay to take a break and be one with nature. I am pleased I got to experience this and I am looking forward to doing more outdoor adventures like this in the future.

By Helena Antonio

Check our more from our Outdoor Adventure Intensive here!

Pottery

Check out some photos from the Pottery Intensive here!

Rewatchables

Inspired by The Ringer's podcast of the same name, The Rewatchables had students going deeper into the impact of film on all aspects of life, from its impact on the student to their culture. Beginning with case studies of Pitch Perfect and Boyz N the Hood at University of Southern Maine's Portland campus, students watched the films and gained the context of the corresponding official Rewatchables episodes to gain a deeper understanding of the societal and cultural context of the film and the structure of the podcast. With newfound experience, students were then instructed to create a Rewatchables podcast episode on a movie of their choice with a group of their peers, ranging from comedies like Borat to psychological horrors like Get Out. Upon the completion of their episode, students then took a minute to reflect upon their experience and examine the impact of film on culture, society, and themselves, and what makes these movies so enduring and rewatchable. You can check out the podcasts we created here.

By Finn Howard

Songwriting

The 317 Main Street intensive was a super fun music and song writing intensive, and I recommend it for people into music,

songwriting, and performing. In the intensive we got on a bus and headed to 317 Main Street and then met with the music teachers. We got into bands and wrote a song to perform at 317 Main Street and were able to invite family. We also got to make song analysis presentations where you pick any song and research the background information on it and get to play it for the class. It was really fun,  and I hope more people choose it in the future who are interested.

By Aviana Moulton

 

Squash

Students during the squash intensive played lots of squash at Portland Community Squash. We also did yoga and took walks. For community service we organized the game / craft room and cleaned the yoga mats. We also made public service announcements for Portland Community Squash. On Wednesday we toured the Bowdoin campus, played squash at the Bowdoin squash facility and ate lunch at the famous Bowdoin dining hall. We ended the squash intensive with a round robin tournament. The Trackhawks won!

Symmetry

Check out the beautiful Symmetry in Nature here!