Simple Science Experiment!
Come together with family and friends to experiment with the impacts and results of oil spills by following the simple science experiment instructions at home. Great to do with elementary and middle school kids.
What is Trust in Education?
We are a nature-based educational outreach program for rsu21.
Trust in Education provides field trips for the students of RSU21 in Kennebunkport, Kennebunk and Arundel, Maine.
In 2018, our programming hit every elementary school in the district, along with a Gulf of Maine course in Kennebunk High School and at the University of New England. We work alongside teachers, principals, and superintendents to create programs that provide hands-on, nature-based education while meeting NGSS and other national standards. These half day and full day field trips get kids outside on Trust properties and thinking critically about the environments they see today compared to how they once were. While we have an environmental science focus, we love connecting science to history, reading, math, and English skills.
This program also travels to schools! Whether classes want to learn about magnets and forces or biospheres, we create custom in-school classroom programs to fit the needs of our teachers. Want to bring a program to your classroom? To learn more about our K-12 programming through the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, contact our Education Coordinator Jenna Van Haren at Jenna@Kporttrust.org. To learn more about the Gulf of Maine course and climate programming contact Executive Director of The Climate Initiative, Leia Lowery at Leia@theclimateinitiative.org.
Our programming is heavily reliant on our amazing volunteers! If you’re interested in running a field trip station or just learning more fill out the form below.
Elementary School Programs
ADOPTING A PROPERTY
Each year, students from RSU21 adopt a different property at the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. Visiting the property throughout the school year, students connect with their local landscape while exploring NGSS curriculum through hands-on, nature-based education. This program also introduces students to numerous community members, business owners, and other groups who come to volunteer each trip.
FROM KINDERGARTEN TO FIFTH GRADE
Our kindergarteners are introduced to Goose Rocks Beach where they practice their observational skills while learning about geography, the importance of measurements, and the sun’s impact on the Earth’s surfaces. Next year, in first grade students move to the forests of Tyler Brook! Here students are focused in on the changing seasons, comparing and contrasting fall and spring as the Earth tilts and moves around the sun. Our second graders dive deep into river ecology and history as they travel the Kennebunk River from source to mouth, visiting the Grist Mill along the way. By third grade, kids are ready to hit the islands and wade out to Redin Island to study the intertidal zones. In fourth grade, students get an in depth exploration of the Emmons Preserve, tackling colonial history, reading landscapes, and alternative energy. Finally, it’s time to return to Cape Porpoise harbor in fifth grade and explore Stage Island to learn about the history of the harbor, recent archaeological findings, invasive species, and more!
CONNECTING Kennebunkport WITH The CLIMATE INITIATIVE
Trust in Education is working alongside The Climate Initiative to bring relevant climate education to our high school students along with KCT’s Trust in Education program to bridge the gap between elementary school and high school learning. We want to introduce students to science that they’ll study all the way through RSU21 and connect them with older students and teachers who they’ll see along the way!
Interested in learning more? Contact jenna@kporttrust.org for all k-5 related comments or questions!
“When you look toward the future, it’s brighter with our children connected to nature.”
Leia Lowery - Director of Education
Middle School Programs
Science outside the classroom
Trust in Education has worked alongside teachers to bring science into the real world for students, whether it’s through an after school adventure camp or bringing samples into the classroom. From phytoplankton collection, visits to Goat Island, or exploring alternative energy, we can work with you to engage students with nature!
We’re constantly seeking ways to expand our middle school connections. Got a fun project? Looking to do something new? Reach out to Jenna Van Haren, our Education Coordinator, at Jenna@Kporttrust.org.
High School Programs
Alternative Education
Students at Kennebunk High in Alternative Education engage with hands-on projects at the Trust. They’re exposed to real life project management, mathematics, scientific principals, and community stakeholders. Past projects have included:
Creating the Learning Trail
The Little Boat That Could
Creating the Story Book Trail
Monitoring Game Cameras for Human & Animal data collection
Creating the Fitness Trail
Interested in learning more? Contact Jenna@kporttrust.org for other high school related comments and questions!
Gulf of Maine Studies Course
In collaboration with the The Climate Initiative (formerly the Kennebunkport Climate Initiative), this college credit-bearing course is taking education to the next level by using community-based projects to start a conversation about climate change and inspire action. Each year students examine a new local issue facing the town from climate pressures, conduct research, interview stakeholders, hold public forums, brainstorm solutions, and disseminate information to create real change in their hometown.
Want to bring a Gulf of Maine Studies Course pilot to your high school? Contact Leia Lowery, Executive Director of The Climate Initiative at Leia@theclimateinitiative.org or Jenna Van Haren at the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust.
Learn more about the course HERE.
“The greatest thing I’ve probably ever done was taking the opportunity to work on projects at the Conservation Trust. They had a handful of projects for us like boardwalks, stilts, cornhole, and working with the Trust was a great experience and I wish we can continue working with such great people with such amazing ideas.”
Community and Summer Programming
COMMUNITY PROGRAMMING
Trust in Education isn’t just for kids though! We also host senior, adult, family, and other community programs throughout the year. These programs could be guided nature walks, evening presentations, or other fun experiential outings. You can find us visiting the Atria, collaborating with other community groups, and hosting fundraisers. Our biggest annual fundraiser each year is Trust Trail Fest! Did you know each time you run in our 5K, 10K, or 1/2 marathon you’re supporting environmental education in our community? Click here to check out more information!
Summer Camps
We are excited to partner with Kennebunkport Parks and Recreation for the summer of 2023 for camp programming. Throughout the summer, campers enrolled in the Kennebunkport Parks and Recreation program will be brought to KCT properties for various nature-based activities. Campers can expect to explore our trails, spend time on the water, and learn about local flora, fauna, and history. Registration is conducted through Kennebunkport Parks and Recreation. To sign up for the K-6th grade day camp, please click here. To sign up for the Outdoor Adventures Teen Summer camp, click here.
Archaeology in Cape Porpoise
Cape Porpoise Archaeological Alliance: The Cape Porpoise Archaeological Partnership is an alliance between the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and the Brick Store Museum. Its purpose is to conduct archaeological study of the islands in Cape Porpoise harbor located just off the coast of Kennebunkport, Maine. Evidence suggests that Historic and Pre-Historic Period archaeological sites are present. Sea level rise due to global climate change, however, is causing shoreline erosion damaging or potentially destroying these locations. Important information of past cultures is being lost before study can begin. This is why the Trust, which owns and manages these islands, supports archaeological research. An example of this erosion can be found less than five miles southwest of Stage Island at what was previously Strawberry Island. In the 1940’s, Strawberry Island was home to a working farm with farmhouse and barn. Today it is a pile of rocks completely submerged at high tide. Global sea level rise is increasing at a rate of 0.14 inches per year. This gradual increase equates to greater storm surges and conditions will worsen. Without prompt action, important information about this little-known period of history; contact between pre-Europeans and Europeans will be lost forever.
Digging for History: The Kennebunkport Conservation Trust began its archaeological search on the islands of Cape Porpoise, Maine. The first European fishermen travelled these islands in the early 17th century, using them as their summertime home base to harvest the rich fisheries in the Gulf of Maine. They would cure their catch on fish "stages" before packing it aboard their ships for the long journey home. Stage Island and Stage Harbor derived their name as a result of this process. Eventually, explorers braved the winter and in that time a new Maine village was born.
Discoveries on the islands over the past several years indicate that there is even a far deeper story to tell than this. Native American stone tools found on the islands show that they too had come to this place to harvest the sea long before its European discover. Indeed, that figure could well be over 2000 years ago. In 2019, CPAA discovered the oldest, and only pre-European contact, dug out canoe found in Maine, dating 700-800 years old.
Contact Chief Archaeologist Tim Spahr via email at timspahr.cpaa@gmail.com
“We learn about real issues that are affecting us already. So everything we learn directly connects to situations in life outside of class.”
KHS student - Gulf of Maine Studies Course
Photo by Nick Sarro on Unsplash
Kennebunkport Climate Initiative
A non-partisan, solutions based organization pushing for local, tangible solutions to a global challenge.
Mission: Empower youth voices for climate action.
Goal: “We believe youth are the key to solving the climate challenge because they influence and foster climate concern among their parents, communities, and decision-makers. Our goal is to develop a cohesive youth voice that influences decision-makers to embrace climate solutions. KCI aims to educate, empower, and activate 10 million youth to reach this goal by 2025.”
Why Kennebunkport? Kennebunkport, Maine is a special place. It’s the quintessential Maine town; complete with a small fishing village, a working harbor, beautiful beaches and an iconic lighthouse set against a rocky landscape. It’s also an endangered place. Kennebunkport abuts the Gulf of Maine, which is warming faster than any other body of water its size in the world. In 80 years, if we do nothing, much of this iconic New England town will be underwater. While we are a small town on Maine on the frontline of climate change, we could also be any town in this country… we are all facing futures impacted by climate change. But by bonding together we can decide what that future looks like.
Connected with KCT: Rooted in Trust in Education, this organization came out of our Gulf of Maine Studies course at the University of New England and Kennebunk High. Students were able to engage with the community, study threats facing our coastal ecological systems, and design solutions.
