Casco Teaches

Squash & Fitness

Fitness & Nutrition

Human Anatomy & Physiology

Introduction to Indoor Climbing

Learn to Swim

Mapping

Modern Music as Literature

One-Act Playwriting

Quilting: Fiber Arts

Shark Tank

Showshoeing Overnight

Statistics & Strategy of (Board) Gaming

Tech Theatre & Set Design

Winter Adventures

World Religions

Writing Residency

 

Casco Teaches

The Casco Teaches intensive was all about learning how to become a teacher. We learned the Expeditionary Learning principles of design, which helped us understand more about how to be a teacher. We learned how teachers could handle different situations and how to act with the students in those moments.  After this, we spent three days volunteering in a classroom in Portland. Some of us went to middle schools and some of us went to elementary schools. For example, Sofia volunteered in an 8th grade ELA classroom at Lyman Moore Middle School and Brinelle volunteered in a 2nd grade classroom at East End Community School. During our three days of volunteering, we had a first-hand view of a teacher's life. We learned how teachers handle different situations between students and how they manage these situations while still focusing on their teaching lives. These three days changed our thoughts about teaching and our philosophies of teaching. They showed us how being a teacher still connects to being a student and that being a teacher means to keep learning.

By Sofia Eon and Brinelle Kubelo

Squash & Fitness

The Squash and Fitness intensive was action-packed. From round-robin games, to basketball and weights at USM, to an educational lesson on nutrition in sports, we had a tiring but exciting week. Students undertook various mental, physical, and educational activities throughout the intensive. These activities started Thursday morning, with a get-to-know-you bingo game, and later, squash lessons with Mexican National Champion Coach Marilu. Students learned about the rules of the game, proper racket grip, and played a few points to familiarize themselves with the mechanics of the sport. The next day, students participated in a wellness/yoga session. Following that, students were split into groups on different courts. Each court had a different variation of the sport, with some rules added and some taken away. Monday was action-packed, with students using a collegiate weight room and playing basketball at USM, followed by a round-robin tournament in the afternoon. Students also did community service in order to thank PCS for their generous donation of their time and facility. Finally, on Tuesday and Wednesday, skills were put to the test as students played more competitive matches along with doubles matches, with a second and final yoga session to wrap up the intensive on Wednesday. Throughout the week, students built trust among one another, improved their well-being, and unlocked a new activity and appreciation for the sport of squash!

By Sebastian Milstein-Jones

Fitness & Nutrition

Throughout the winter intensives week, we learned a lot of things from the Physical Fitness and Nutrition Intensive. We had a lot of fun working out, going to new places, and learning to keep our bodies healthy. On the first day, we went outside to ice skate – this was actually a few people's first experience ice skating, and despite frequent falls (including some of my own) and the freezing cold, we all had a good time. The next day, we went to H2O Fitness to meet experts in fitness and acupuncture. Almost everyone got to try acupuncture on their head and ears, and all those who participated had a positive experience. After that, we learned about using rubber bands to help us exercise. Later in the day, we walked on a trail with Portland Trails executive director Jon Kachmar. We learned about how spending time outside can benefit your health greatly. On the third day, we visited Lisa Hicks and learned various dance routines, attempted dance choreography, and just had fun. After we danced, Nurse Raymond taught use about the importance of sleep. On the fourth day, we went to Beacon CrossFit and worked out with a personal trainer named Tyson. We used medicine balls, pull-up bars, dumbbells, and other workout equipment to help us exercise; then, we learned about nutrition with Alexis Jones. We also learned about dieting and how to listen to the messages your body is sending you. On the final day of winter intensives, after a final intense workout, we set goals, crystalized our thoughts about fitness and nutrition, and finalized our presentations about fitness.

By Yazeed Fowsi

Human Anatomy & Physiology

During Human Anatomy we did a variety of different things, with a focus on studying body systems. Each day we focused on a different system, starting with skeletal, and we would do different activities to learn about the various parts and how they work with different systems to support human life. In addition to other activities, we did several dissection activities of animal parts with similar structures to humans, to get a more hands-on understanding of our anatomy. The intensive culminated with a trip to USM, where we presented our final projects about specific body systems, going deeper into the different organs and how certain diseases can affect them. Also at USM we got the opportunity to learn from a biology professor more in depth about both what a college class like hers can entail, as well as a final exam to show off what we learned during the whole of the Intensive.

By Althea Denkmire

 

Introduction to Indoor Climbing

Throughout this past week, students of all climbing experiences set goals, tried new techniques, and persevered, becoming better climbers in the process. On the first morning, we started off by sharing what we were nervous about, excited for, and our goals for the coming days. Each morning we prepped our bodies and minds with a stretch circle and games. Kicking off our time at Evo, we learned how to climb and belay safely indoors. Over the course of the week, everyone had successfully belayed a fellow student! We top roped and bouldered, and Connor, one of the instructors, gave us a lesson on techniques used to improve our climbing. We also got to watch an awesome demonstration of lead climbing by Taj and Mrs. Orth! On the fourth day we enjoyed a relaxing and entertaining yoga class with Rachel, stretching some sore muscles before heading into our last few hours of climbing. On the last day, we completed a final reflection for the week on climbing and our experiences both in and outside of the rock gym. Mr. Nyapir then taught us about the adventures of outdoor climbing and the gear needed for it. Lastly, we watched The Alpinist, a documentary about a legendary mountaineer named Marc-Andre Leclerc who accomplished many incredible feats on mountains across the world, often completely alone. We’re leaving this intensive with not only better climbing skills, but a better understanding of ourselves as athletes, how to challenge ourselves, how to support others through challenges, and how to have a lot of fun doing so. 

By Ella Sobol

Learn to Swim

Hey! Have you ever thought about trying the swimming intensive? It’s worth it, just continue reading to learn more about what we did all week! On the first day of intensives, we started off by making a list of our hopes and fears. My favorite part was when someone said one of their hopes was to live. Live, we did! We then moved into watching a beautiful movie that made some of us cry. It’s called Pride and it’s based on a true story about Jim Ellis, a swim coach founding an all-Black swim team. Then we headed off to the pool. We talked about some rules for the pool and how to keep ourselves and each other safe. The pool was a bit cold. The first day was just to see what skills people were good at and what skills needed to be worked on. Each and every day we all had made tremendous progress and we were proud of our efforts and accomplishments. During our time in the pool, we watched beginners who did not know how to swim, swim! We watched swimmers hone their skills, and we watched many head to the deep end. It was truly incredible and also necessary, as swimming is a skill that is critical for life. We would practice dry lands, which is an exercise that makes us stronger, preparing us for the water. Before we swam everyday, we would work on our children’s book. We each created a book teaching water safety (see senior Bilal Mohamed reading to the left), and encouraging water practices for our audience: 3rd graders at Talbot. Every single elementary student adored the books, and carefully observed the characters as they would be scared to swim, and finally head in the water. (Similar to students who first joined the swimming intensive!) After the end of our intensive, we not only constructed a relationship with water, but with other students and teachers as well. I cannot stress the importance of this intensive enough, and I am entirely grateful for the Swimming Intensive! 

By Princess Sakyi

 

Mapping

Over the past 5 days, the students in the mapping intensive have learned a lot about the current geography of our great city of Portland, as well as studying the land area and history of other cities and countries. On the first day we practiced using maps to navigate around Portland traveling to various checkpoints around the city. The second day, we studied different places that we potentially wanted to map at USM. Taking inspiration from the current maps on display at the Osher Maps Library, we did a little brainstorming on what we would want to map out. The final few days we created maps of various cities, countries, or areas around the globe, practicing how to make it visually appealing, how to tell the story of the location and making it as accurate as possible.

By Aziz Mohamed

Modern Music as Literature

In this intensive, we explored hip-hop as a literary and poetic art form, as we would do typically with novels and poetry. We analyzed music by breaking down the lines and trying to get the whole message out of the song. The album we studied was "To Pimp A Butterfly" by Kendrick Lamar. We discussed themes of systemic racism, inequality, gang culture, exploitation, American capitalism, materialism, survivor's guilt, and ego. For our final project, we all had to choose one song to do a final project on and analyze.

 

By Jadimilson Monteiro Rosado

 

One-Act Playwriting

In Playwriting, students brainstormed, wrote, and read original 10-30 minute stage plays. We started by working with playwright Karmo Sanders, who helped us in forming concepts, characters, and conflicts. She encouraged us to let our ideas flow, to “write rust” then refine our work later. We then read two excerpts of scripts to learn the format of a playscript and brainstorm resolutions to stories. Additionally, we watched portions of one-act plays in order to feel how the characters’ dialogue drives the story forward and see how the set, props, and lighting can add to that. Working with this, students wrote plays-- either solo or in small groups-- about whatever they chose. Karmo returned to help writers revise their scripts, now focusing on creating a clear plot and characters, for a final version to be printed. On our final day, we went to Portland Players, a theatre in South Portland, for writers to share excerpts from their scripts on a stage. This intensive worked to build students’ skills in telling clear stories, writing collaboratively, and writing stories suited for a stage. In the end, one script was chosen to be produced as Casco Bay’s spring one-act play, with multiple others being saved for future years.

By Reme Isgro

Quilting: Fiber Arts

For the week in the Fiber Arts Quilting intensive we focused on learning sewing machine basics, appliqué, and creating quilt blocks. We focused on using quilting techniques to create things we could use everyday. We journaled daily which included planning projects, things we learned like techniques AND our learning from mistakes! "Half of sewing is taking it apart!" - Amanda. Everyone worked together to create a community quilt that we shared with our CBHS community. 

By Anna Litz

Shark Tank

This intensive was an exercise in entrepreneurship, loosely based on the television show of the same name. On our first day, as an introduction to the product design process, we learned about frequent problems that students with ADHD experience. We then designed solutions to those problems, which required us to work through the design thinking process. We then prototyped solutions for these problems, ending up with various designs, ranging from a pen that provided audio affirmations to action figure size scale models of more convenient chairs and desks for students with ADHD. On our second day, we finished watching a documentary about Tinker Hatfield, the designer of E.A.R.L. self-tying shoes and many of Nike's Air Jordans. We then began brainstorming ideas for our final product, working our way through a design packet that required us to empathize with users, ideate possibilities and test prototypes. We then had most of our third and fourth days to perfect our prototypes. At the same time, we started making slideshows for our pitches. Experts from the Roux Institute came in to give us feedback and watch us practice our presentations. On our last day, we took a bus over to the Roux Institute and presented our final product pitches in their amphitheater. The products presented ranged from an eco-friendly wallet to a two-rider seat that can be added to any bicycle. The winning product, a device called the Teacher's Tap that helps students focus and learn, was designed by Starling Manhart, who won a free lunch and consulting time with the Roux Institute. The runner-up was Ben Kalinda's SonicSecure bike lock. We would like to thank and recognize the intensely valuable support by classroom volunteers Scott (a Portland architect), Archer Isgro (2024 CBHS Alum), and Mr. Burke (the ultimate problem solver). 

By Arthur Libby

Snowshoeing Overnight

For intensive week students were offered an opportunity to spend two nights and three days snowshoeing in northern Maine. On Monday morning, twenty students commuted to Rockwood, Maine to stay at the Birches cabins on Moosehead lake. We enjoyed scenic trails and were accompanied by lots of snow! Starting on the first day we went on our first outing and visited a yurt while getting a feel for snowshoeing. The next day we did a longer trail which challenged ourselves and pushed many outside of their comfort zones. We ended day two off with a late night walk to stargaze and express our gratitude for this trip and this wonderful school we attend. Other than snowshoeing this was a time for connection and reflection with our classmates. We cooked each meal together, played games and spent the entire time free of screens. Overall it was an amazing experience that was enjoyed by all!

By Bella Rand

Statistics & Strategy of (Board) Gaming

In the intensive Statistics of Gaming, we learned to play new games and try new strategies. Then we dove a bit deeper looking into the math and statistics of the games we were playing. The three major games we focused on were Trouble, Monopoly, and RISK. We learned how to add and multiply fractions to find the probabilities of our actions in the games. We also learned whether it was worth taking the risks in our own situations. Lastly, we chose one of our own games to look into looking at the probabilities of different movies and which moves would be the best to put you in the lead using just a bit of math and reasoning. Check out some statistical breakdowns of your favorite games (and some you've never seen before!) here.

By Brielle Erskine

Tech Theatre & Set Design

The tech theater intensive was a theater based class for a week, focused on set design, lighting and the background behind the plays you know and love today. The intensive took a deep dive into the behind the scenes, meeting professional theater technicians, stages and the design before you see the set on stage. The final had the students make a small, quarter scale sized model build of whatever they want: TV shows, movies, actual musicals, plays - the list goes on. Every day, the students went on field trips to theaters, stages or met proper theater technicians around Portland, then came back and worked on the models, using cardboard and other things of that sort. This intensive went to a proper theater company, Portland High School’s stage, and the children's museum stage, to see what they do there for work! This intensive was our deep dive into the behind the scenes, and was a fun learning experience. Consider joining in the near future!

By Vincent Harvey

 

Winter Adventures

On the first day back from break my shoes got stuck in mud, and I knew this was not going to be a normal week of school. They got muddy because we were at Wolfe’s Neck State Park on a trail that led to the ocean. The ocean was worth it. The ocean breeze felt fresh, the water was shining. The sunlight sparkled through the trees. I knew it was going to be a great week of winter adventures. The next day we went skiing and got geared up by the generous Mount Abrams staff, and they also gave us free ski lessons. As we were taking the lesson, we started to get the hang of it. We also got to go on the chair lifts.The next day we went ice skating. Some people were twirling around the rink and some were on ice for the first time. But we all had fun and felt proud of ourselves. The next day we went rock climbing. Rock climbing felt a little nerve racking but everyone started to get the hang of it and we had fun. The last day we went to Scarborough beach and marsh. We put on our spikes and started walking on water–frozen water (very cold). We ended the trip by taking a walk to the lovely beach. These past days have been nothing but fun. We learned to overcome many challenges and be adventurous. It has inspired us to seek adventures on our own. See you on the slopes! Check out more quotes and photos from Winter Adventures here!

By Rahaf Altaee

World Religions

This past week of intensives, we have done many things that have helped us change our point of view about religions around us. The world religion intensive helped us learn many religious beliefs and practices of those from different cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, under the guidance of Mr. Croft and Mr. Meahl. As a class, we joined up to analyze and learn the fundamental similarities and differences among religions such as their beliefs, practices, holidays, and moral codes. Our studies have encompassed major world religions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The goal was to examine their unique beliefs, practices, and cultural impact. Apart from that, we went to a Synagogue, a Catholic Church (Cathedral), a Buddhist center of mediation, a Mosque, and a Unitarian Universalist Church. During our visit to a mosque, we learned that Islam has different calendars compared to the Gregorian calendar (the one we use). This calendar is called “Hijri", this calendar has 12 months that help determine the Islamic holidays, rituals like annual fasting, and the season of great pilgrims in all the Islamic countries. Last but not least, we attended to the goal of our learning with plenty of appreciation to those people that we visited in different places and with the help of our amazing teachers, Mr. Croft and Mr. Meahl. Thank you! Check out reflections on the week from students here!

By Priscila Mavungo & Eremia Kidiaca Mungu

Writing Residency

The writing residency intensive is meant to give students an opportunity and space to create a piece of writing that is something meaningful to them. On the first day, we all got to know each other better and discussed what we hoped to accomplish in this intensive over tea and baked treats brought in by students. After we got a basic idea of what we were going to write during this time, we then completed a day by day planner for our week so we could go about using our time to the fullest. We ended off the day by taking a walk to get ideas flowing and then coming back to sit and listen to panelists talk about their writing experience.  On the second day of writing, we started off our day at the Novel Cafe in Portland. There, we really got into our writing as many people bounced ideas off of each other. We had one on one meetings with authors to get a better understanding of what messages our pieces should portray and how we were going to get it to that point. We then came back to listen in on a panel full of skilled writers and authors to get tips and advice on our own work. On the third day, we had a session at The Telling Room in the Old Port, learning strategies for revision and taking our writing to the next level. To really make sure our pieces were the best they could be, we spent a little time in the beginning of the fourth day to make sure our piece was completed and ready to be edited by our peers. We then did a writers workshop where we got into small groups and read each other's pieces while giving constructive feedback. We ended the day by completing final revisions. To end off the intensive, we did student readings and presentations off-site at Back Cove Books. There, everyone shared their piece or pieces while also listening to fellow classmates. After everyone shared, we got into doing some final reflections. We reflected back on everything we learned over the past week as well as said our thanks. 

By Adah Holt