Classes had finished for the day and I had an hour or so before my chores began. I ran back to my cabin with a friend, eager to break in my overalls. I rifled through my stack of folded t-shirts, hoping to find one to wear underneath. I settled on one and threw on a pair of boots as well. Then, we hurriedly gathered at the farm. At this time, the sun lingered on into the evening, bringing its warmth along with it. Though that was only a few weeks ago, the environment has changed since: the Read More

In the days before welcoming Semester 65, Julie Barnes, our Dean of Students, sent out a message which resonated deeply with our learning community and has been on our minds ever since. Julie spoke of a passage from the book The Great Tide Rising by Kathleen Dean Moore. This excerpt was about the eruption of Mount Saint Helen in 1980 and how scientists believed that all life would be wiped out from the mountain, and that it would not return for centuries. The author comments: "What the Read More

Yesterday morning I arrived at the circular patch of grass that has been my science classroom for the last few months to find a pile of binoculars and birding books. This is by no means an unusual occurrence. Last week it was magnifying glasses, and before that, it was a pile of eastern white pine branches. I was immediately excited to hear what we were going to be doing today. My teacher and cabin parent, Megan, did not disappoint. She excitedly announced that we would be watching birds. Our Read More

Last week I had a chore called Barn Check. Barn Check isn't like a normal chore we have in the morning; it’s a volunteer position, and it's during the evening. After dinner every day for a week, I would go to the farm with a partner to help get it ready for the night. We walked through the big greenhouse, and closed the doors to that, and then we walked down the hill to the chickens. We made sure all the chickens were in their coop, and shut their doors for the night. In all, the barn check for Read More

Polar Bear When my alarm goes off, my eyes open wide. In only 20 minutes, I’ll be jumping into the freezing ocean in the middle of October. I whisper to my cabin mate, “Hey, wake up...it’s time for the polar bear dip.” She opens her eyes slowly and then says, “Wait… What’s happening?” After a quick reminder of where we are going and why we chose to do this at the ungodly hour of 6:45 on a Saturday morning, she hops out of bed and we start mentally preparing ourselves for the bitter cold. We zip Read More

I came to Chewonki expecting full crunchy granola energy. Where everyone would hug trees and talk to the plants and be completely immersed in nature. I think my expectations were pretty spot on as you will probably discover by the end of this post. Chewonki already feels like home and I know I never want to leave. On our first normal weekend, a group of faculty and students went canoeing from Chewonki Neck waterfront. I went in a boat with Katie Curtis (my math teacher) and her adorable dog, Read More

Fall in Maine is a spectacular sight: forests painted in fiery hues, clear blue skies overhead, and the first hint of a chill in the air. Semester 65 was lucky enough to experience this all within a few days of arriving here on the Chewonki campus. Grouped by cabins and full of excitement, they set off for a 5-day adventure in the backcountry of Maine. Whether students were summiting Mount Bigelow, paddling the St. Croix River, or backpacking along the Appalachian Trail, they had an amazing Read More

The falling leaves of warm colors interrupt the stillness of the Moose River. The water falls off my paddle as I take it out of the water and then back in. A kingfisher swoops through the air from one side of the river to the other. Laughter from my new family surrounds me as I paddle my way down the Moose River in my canoe.  The mouth of the Moose River was very shallow and almost dry. We paddled over beaver dams and pushed our canoes through a shallow, sandy stream for what felt like a half a Read More

A very warm welcome to the 42 students of Semester 65! They arrived on Wednesday, September 16th, enjoying sunshine and blue skies on their long-awaited opening day. It was a busy and joyful occasion as students moved into cabins, toured campus, and connected with classmates in-person. Every semester requires a great deal of preparation, but perhaps no other group has been more involved prior to arriving on campus. In addition to the usual packing list and reading assignment, students also Read More

A HUGE congratulations to Semester 64 students, who graduated last Friday in a virtual ceremony. Semester 64 will go down in Chewonki history as one of the most resilient groups to ever set foot on campus. They have shown dedication, creativity, and grit in the face of immense challenge, maintaining a strongly-bonded learning community through two months of remote education. We are so proud of them. When Semester 64 left for spring break in early March, few could have predicted the profound Read More