Mill Pond students enjoy Leadership adventure

    DAMARISCOTTA — Mill Pond seventh-graders recently completed a transformative, five-day program at The Leadership School at Kieve on Damariscotta Lake.
Contributed photo
ADVENTURE — Mill Pond student Chris Hudson poses with Kieve staff member Tyler Blatt at The Leadership School on Damariscotta Lake.
    “This week we have learned a lot about sexual harassment, bullying, smoking and the consequences,” student Nick Merritt said. “We’ve learned how to work together and trust each other, especially with climbing.”
    Kieve’s Leadership School program works with middle school students from Maine and New England to address group dynamics and teamwork through open classroom discussions and adventure learning. “This week has been super fun! We have been climbing and playing a lot of fun games,” said Chris Hudson. Classmate Dakota Brown added, “The support team in climbing is really important. A lot of people were scared but we helped them do it.” Mill Pond students report that this week has brought them closer as a group as well as taught them about working together with kindness and respect and healthy decision-making.
    Mill Pond Middle School has been bringing students to Kieve for the last 14 years. Kieve heavily subsidizes the cost of the program. The remaining fee is covered by fundraisers, donations and parents. Mill Pond staff members Karen Sattler, Jill Quint and Rob Goulet have been to Kieve numerous times and are continually impressed with Kieve and their students’ openness to the curriculum. “I love this program,” began Jill Quint, “Every year it becomes increasingly important that students learn about bullying and sexual harassment.” This was the first year that Sandy Veysey, a grandparent and an ed tech at Mill Pond, has come to Kieve. “I am totally impressed with the whole program. I wish I could have done something like this. I wish my kids could have done something like this. The kids here told me that this was beyond what they expected.” Sattler explained, “We bring them here as seventh graders so that we have the opportunity to use what the students learned here during the rest of their middle school experience.” All teachers agreed that they would love to offer their students more opportunities to engage with Kieve—perhaps a follow-up session at Mill Pond next year with Kieve staff to remind students about working together with kindness and respect.
    The Leadership School often hits the road for outreach programs. For schools that cannot make the trip to Damariscotta Lake, Kieve will bring its portable wall and offer single day or multiday programs.  Other programs offered by Kieve-Wavus Education, Inc. include Kieve Camp for Boys and Wavus Camp for Girls, which serve youth from Maine and around the world; Kieve-West, a co-ed wilderness program in Colorado; an Alumni and Family Camp; a 9/11 Family Camp for families from New York and Washington, D.C. who were affected by the 9/11 tragedy; and programs for veterans to reconnect with their families and loved ones. In addition, Kieve-Wavus Education, Inc. operates The Kennedy Learning Center on the Nobleboro campus, which serves as a private retreat and conference center for adult teambuilding programs. For more information about The Leadership School call (207) 563-6212, email leadershipschool@kieve.org, or visit the website at www.theleadershipschool.org.