Building Community Through Education: Machiasport Students Lead Town Park Initiative!

After learning about the extensive history within their town, student sin Machiasport are now working to develop a Town Community Park to benefit the whole community!

Read more on this wonderful story from Sue Almendinger, also known as Mrs. A, the teaching principal of a small PreK-8 community school in Machiasport:

This year, my students, with the help of my ELA teacher and me, have taken on the Washington County Youth Challenge, where my students have been learning how to showcase their community with key areas like Jasper's Beach and our historic fort, which played an important part in the First Naval Battle of the American Revolution.

We aim to bring that understanding and appreciation into presenting to our Machiasport Town Officials the need for a town park that would have a walking trail, a picnic area, and possibly a community garden. Because we are small in number, we have had to make sure we know how this would benefit our town—the older members of our community, children of all ages, and visitors wanting to see who we are.

My students have visited all the places in our town that they would want others to learn about and appreciate. They have invited our Machiasport School Board members to work with us in our discussions and the planning process. We have been working with our town clerk on ways to bring about this lofty goal to build a Machiasport Town Community Park for everyone to enjoy.

We have also surveyed parents, grandparents, and other students within our community to see how they feel about this plan. The surveys showed unanimous support for this. The plan is already in the works as our town has cleared the area for the trail, and the rest we will continue to work on throughout the spring of 2025 and beyond as we pass the torch over to the incoming students who will be next year's planners and organizers. All of the students involved in this project are promising to continue to work as part of our team beyond this year as they move into high school.