A group of recent recipients of grants from the Brunswick Community Education Foundation, a local nonprofit that provides grants for innovative education projects to staff in the Brunswick school district. Devon Taylor photo

Brunswick’s schools are officially out for the summer. As kids get away from their computers, they are likely to be spending more time outdoors. Brunswick is home to many different habitats, from its woodsy spots to its coasts. Our waterfront is a unique feature that is important to the town’s economy, culture and recreation. Yet many of Brunswick’s students aren’t familiar with it.

Over the past several years, the Brunswick School Department has been working to expand the district’s offerings for students interested in learning about its coastal resources. About seven years ago, the Brunswick High School received a series of grants to fund a clam reseeding and green crab trapping project at Wharton Point at the head of Maquoit Bay. That program involved students “planting” seed clams in the mud and monitoring their growth and survival as well as both removing and studying the population of invasive green crabs. Students also created interpretive posters for the public to provide information on green crabs as well as the value and history of local shellfish harvesting. Many of the students involved in this project went on to apply for their student shellfish licenses through the town of Brunswick in order to learn the trade during their time off from school.

This initial project was incorporated into the high school’s marine biology class, taught by Andrew McCullough. One of the grants that supported this project was given by the Brunswick Community Education Foundation back in 2017, a local nonprofit that provides grants for innovative education projects to BSD staff. McCullough went on to apply for and receive funding from BCEF to continue that project the following year. From there, the program continued to grow. In 2019, fellow BHS science teacher Sue Perkins worked with McCullough to develop the concept of bringing younger students to BHS to learn about marine life. After many hurdles, including the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to launch the BHS marine aquarium and touch tank thanks to another BCEF grant and to begin to coordinate with teachers at Kate Furbish Elementary School to create opportunities for students in pre-K through second grade.

When the pandemic hit, both BHS teachers and BCEF shifted gears to respond to the differing needs of teachers and students in the Brunswick school district. Perkins applied for a virtual speaker series to continue to offer her students an education about fisheries and marine science despite the limitations of remote learning, and BCEF funded this grant through one of its emergency grant cycles designed to provide rapid-response funding for teachers to continue to take on innovative projects.

As schools emerged from the pandemic and were able to bring students together across the district, Perkins was able to officially launch the Sea Dragons Club, in partnership with Kate Furbish teachers, to introduce younger students in the district to local marine life through visits to the BHS aquarium.

This year, BCEF just announced over $50,000 for each of six schools in the Brunswick school district, including one to Perkins and McCullough for an additional tank at the BHS aquarium that will hold Maine lobster so that students can study the impacts of climate change on this species. BCEF held a celebration in the outdoor courtyard at the Kate Furbish Elementary School a few weeks ago to award 14 grants to Brunswick teachers. In addition to funding the BHS lobster tank and climate-change study, BCEF grants included other marine-related projects, like one for boat building at the TREK school as well as many others, including an outdoor courtyard mural and a student newspaper at the Brunswick Junior High School, and funding for rain pants for students to get outside in any weather at Kate Furbish.

As someone who grew up far from the ocean with no education about it until college, I am amazed to see how the offerings for students to learn about marine life in the Brunswick school district have grown over the years thanks to enthusiastic teachers, eager students and support from organizations like the Brunswick Community Education Foundation and everyone in the community who has supported their work. As a result, when students go back to school in the fall, they can look forward to many engaging projects, many of which will get them outside to learn more about their local environment, including our town’s waterfront.

Susan Olcott is the director of operations at Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.