After Rick Wilson graduated from Mt. Ararat High School in 1983, he decided to take a year off. He was confused, at sea, unsure about his future. “I wanted to get away from school to sort things out,” he says. Rick spent the next year working several jobs and traveling around Europe.

The following fall he entered the University of Maine at Farmington as a first-generation college student where he majored in post-secondary education and minored in history. After graduation he spent several years teaching and coaching at a junior high school in Thomaston.

In 1992 Rick landed a job teaching social studies at Brunswick Junior High School. Then in 1997 he moved over to the High School. He started out teaching social studies, but today he’s a full-time teacher/administrator with the title of “Community Service and Outreach Director.”

That title does not do justice to what Rick Wilson really does: He changes lives by introducing students to the rewards of community service and the realities of the working world. In the process, he introduces them to the power of their own possibilities.

Take community service. Every student at Brunswick High School must complete 30 hours of community service in order to graduate. Some students complete 100 hours. Or 200 hours. Or even 500 hours! They get involved in everything from mentoring Coffin School students to walking for MS or Make a Wish to participating in Book Drives, Coat Drives and Food Drives. And, important, BHS celebrates students who have compiled extraordinary records of service. Clippings featuring students in the act of serving others line his office walls. Rick Wilson’s boundless enthusiasm has helped create an ethos at BHS in which it’s considered cool to serve others.

In recent years, Rick has increased efforts to create opportunities for students to experience the world of work: job shadowing physicians at the Midcoast Hospital, for example, or working in a non-profit organization or a retail establishment. A recent article in The Times Record (Sept. 2) described the University of Maine $35,000 grant, which will enable students to participate in an aquaculture research project. As the article noted, “… students will be taking part in applied marine research and data collection on different shellfish species, invasive species such as green crabs, as well as other ecologically important marine species.”

“Most kids have no clue about who they are or what they want to be. I know, because I was one of those kids! We have to get them out of the classroom so they can learn about the world and about themselves.”

Not surprisingly given his background, Rick Wilson is a big proponent of having students take a year or two off after graduation before entering college to get their bearings, a sense of direction. “Too many students take six years to get out of college and then they often graduate with huge debt and no job.” He also notes that not every student should go to college.

Rick spends much of his time these days establishing partnerships with people in the private and public sectors to create more opportunities for students to learn about the working world. “It’s tough to break through the din,” he admits, “but it’s so important to give kids a chance to see what the world is like.”

One hears these days about high school teachers and administrators becoming discouraged because of greater administrative bureaucracy and increased parental involvement. Rick Wilson, however, remains ever upbeat, ever the optimist. “Sometimes I can’t get to sleep because I’m so excited thinking about working with students on the next project.”

Take a bow, Rick. The students at Brunswick High School are lucky to have you at their service.

David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary or suggestions for future “Just a Little

Old” columns at dtreadw575@aol.com.