(Above photo: Sprout Lewiston students at Acadia National Park)
On a humid morning in July, students from the Sprout Lewiston program met under a tent in the orchard at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth with Mihku Paul, a Wabanaki cultural sharer and regular partner of Maine Audubon. Mihku welcomed students in her language, Maliseet-Passamaquoddy, and then asked the students to share what languages each of them spoke. Collectively, the group of eleven young women spoke at least eight different languages including Somali, Dari, Pashto, Lingala, and others. That morning marked the start of another wonderful summer of learning and outdoor adventure.
Sprout Lewiston is a four-week summer program for girls run in partnership between Maine Audubon and Maine Community Integration in Lewiston. MCI supports immigrant girls and their families, while Sprout Lewiston focuses on environmental stewardship and education, exposure to natural places and green careers in Maine, and social-emotional learning and leadership development through a positive group experience.
Youth participants receive a $500 stipend for their engagement in environmental stewardship and the full program. For the second summer in a row, teens spent their Wednesdays at the Lewiston/Auburn Community Tree Nursery in Auburn. In a continuous effort to plant, prune, and weed native trees, city arborists then transplant the adolescent trees along urban streets in their communities, providing habitat, shade, and other ecosystem services. Read more about the community tree nursery program here.
Though this summer marked our fifth year running Sprout Lewiston, this year hosted an all-new cohort of middle school aged participants. Together we learned more about Maine wildlife and native plants, while taking time each week to visit some of the state’s most treasured places, such as Step Falls in Grafton Notch State Park, the coastline at Wolfe’s Neck, and finally Acadia National Park (above photo). It was nearly everyone’s first visit to the park, and even with the summit blanketed in fog, the ascent up Cadillac Mountain was the highlight!
Throughout our month together, we learned from experts along the way, deepening our understanding of the natural world and the various ways people interact with it, such as birding, conserving, weaving, growing, and more. Especially when foraging for foods, youth would often share about the foods, landscapes, and practices of their home countries, building greater connection with one another and the world around us.
On Fridays, participants received swimming lessons at the YWCA in the morning, and harvested and cooked with Gather to Grow in the afternoons. Our weeks and days were packed, and we’re proud of everyone for showing up each day, trying new things, and creating a community of curiosity, respect, and openness.
We look forward to connecting with Sprout Lewiston throughout the school year, and continuing to adventure and grow with one another in the summers to come!
Sprout Lewiston students making summer tea with Mihku Paul with native plants harvested from Gilsland Farm Audubon Center
