At Houlton Middle/High School, two juniors are working together to promote the achievements of their fellow students – and celebrate their teachers and schools!
Victoria Ervin and Hayden Belyea conceived of the idea of the “Shire Spotlight” last fall, in a new "Solutionaries” class offered by their high school. Their teacher, Nannette Mills, asked every student to brainstorm a need within their communities, and a way they could create real change. Ervin and Belyea realized that their teachers and fellow students were doing amazing things inside their school — from parades to local community service projects — but word of those accomplishments wasn't reaching the wider community.
In response, they launched their own newspaper to share those positive, student-centered stories with friends, teachers, and community members.
“And so we thought that if we, since we chose this problem, that the newspaper would really help to make a difference, spread awareness, spread good news, put a smile on people’s faces,” Ervin says.
The two students devoted a lot of time outside of the school day to make the newspaper a reality, collecting photos, stories and interviews featuring the ways local classes and student groups were making a difference in their community.
“And we’re able to visibly see how we’re impacting people,” Belyea said. “We’ve gotten emails from teachers and from a lot of different people saying how much they love it, and that means a lot too, and that helps us a lot in working harder.”
Teacher Nannette Mills said that in just a few short months, she has witnessed enormous growth in Belyea and Ervin, who’ve developed the confidence to branch out and communicate with school board members, educators and students from across the district.
“So they just have the guts to go talk to all the teachers and administrators that they need to, so even that growth was huge. And I don’t worry about them at all. I don’t worry how they talk to the school board or teachers, because they’re very articulate young ladies,” Mills said.