The Kennebunk High School Alternative Education has continued the partnership with KCT throughout 2024. Students have been working to finish the Emmons House renovation. They have learned how to repair drywall on walls and ceilings, paint interior walls, floors, and trim, install new windows and doors, repair exterior siding, insulate and weatherize rooms, refinish furniture, and the basics of installing new heating and water filtration systems. The work in the house has been an incredible, invaluable learning experience for the students. Many of them aspire to renovate their own homes someday. The students will continue to use the house as their off campus classroom space three days a week through the end of June and will be used by interns through the summer.

The next large scale project will be the weatherization of the barn. Prep work for insulation has started. Strapping was installed and new windows were purchased to replace the single pane windows. The next steps are to insulate the barn, create a large community meeting space and an organized area for cold storage upstairs, and install a condensing unit outside to support two new heat pumps. The work on the barn will be done with funding support from The Webhannet Charitable Foundation and long time supporter, Paul Mahoney.

Students are also working with KCT’s Education Director, Jenna Van Haren, to plant a three sisters garden at the base of the hill behind the Emmons House, to reimagine the Storybook Trail and incorporate a sensory garden, to host a “re-opening” of the trail event with a guest author, and to support KCS field trips throughout March.

Oh! And a student is building a wood shed to hold all of the wood that Christ Angelos cut in his first month as President :)

We are profoundly grateful for this partnership and for all of KCT’s support. When asked what the Trust means to them, one of the students responded, “It’s everything.”

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KHS Alternative Education