FREEPORT – Each fall since the formation of Regional School Unit 5, students from the three towns in the district come together for the first time as freshmen at Freeport High School.

And each fall, administrators are faced with the question of how to break down the natural barriers that spring up within the student population.

This year, Freeport chose a new approach to help the incoming freshmen get used to their new classmates. Earlier this month, the class traveled to Camp Ketcha in Scarborough for a special outdoor adventure-based team-building day. Students were placed in small groups, taking part in a series of field games and a low ropes course designed to get the kids working as a team.

The day was under the auspices of the Tolerance and Respect Project (TARP), an RSU5-wide community group that received a grant from L.L. Bean for the event. TARP is a group within Freeport Community Services that was formed in 2010 that seeks to promote civility, compassion, kindness and understanding within the district’s schools in Pownal, Freeport and Durham.

Dede Bennell, the service learning coordinator at Freeport High School, is a member of TARP, and she was one of the organizers of the freshmen orientation day.

“The intent of it was to get all of the freshmen together in neutral territory to have an opportunity to break some barriers and hopefully form some new friendships,” Bennell said.

Bennell said the decision was made to get the kids out of the school after seeing how the transition went during the first years of the RSU.

“Mostly we found last year, especially when the freshmen were all coming in, that there was a little bit of challenge with the three communities, not hugely, but especially for the Durham kids that were new. Durham kids aren’t (completely) new to Freeport, but we were getting more and more because of consolidation. We just felt it would be really important to get these guys all an opportunity to do something together.”

When the students got to Camp Ketcha, the first thing the staff did was break up the class into groups, and each of those groups had students from all three towns.

“We made sure they were mixed in their groups,” Bennell said. “The intention was to allow them opportunities through adventure-based activities to get to know each other a little bit and just break some of those barriers and not be so concerned about, ‘Am I with my friends, I don’t want to be with people from another town.’ It just gave them a chance to come together as a whole class, break up into small groups and hopefully form friendships and seize the opportunity to get to know these kids (from other towns).”

And it appears to have been a successful effort.

Miranda O’Shea of Pownal thought it was a valuable experience.

“I think it’s an amazing idea,” she said.

O’Shea said that she had already been with the Freeport students because Pownal students attend Freeport Middle School, but being with the Durham students as a freshman this year was new. As is typical in many towns, there is a bit of a rivalry between schools and O’Shea said that was true with Durham in middle school, but her perceptions changed once she got to spend time with kids from Durham.

“I’ve heard things about Durham kids, but now that I’ve gotten to know them I know those things weren’t true,” O’Shea said. “Now I have friends from Durham.”

Zach Owen of Durham agreed that it was important for students from different towns to get the chance to interact outside of school.

“I actually thought it was pretty cool,” Owen said. “I didn’t know that many kids, so in my group there was some kids I didn’t know and I just got to know them better.”

Owen said for him, the transition from Durham Community School to his freshman year at Freeport High School was smoother than he expected.

“It’s actually a lot easier than I thought. They’re (the Pownal and Freeport students) are all pretty welcoming. It’s pretty fun, I like it all.”

Freshman Ellie McKibben of Freeport said she enjoyed having the chance to get to know the Durham and Pownal students, especially in groups where kids were hanging out with people that they don’t usually hang out with.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” she said. “ I got to see a different side of (some kids) because they are usually surrounded by their friends.”

Bennell said that the school and TARP will continue to work throughout the year to help foster the bonds began at the orientation day.

“I think some of those barriers (between kids from different towns) were broken and I think we planted a seed,” she said. “And we hope to do some follow-up and get them together in some capacity in their groups as the year goes on.”

Freeport High School freshmen, from left, Zach Owen of Durham, Miranda O’Shea of Pownal and Ellie McKibben of Freeport all recently took part in a special orientation aimed at getting kids from different towns in the incoming freshman class to get to know each other better.