REAL School returns to the district with a new principal, but the same philosophy - By Michelle Libby

This fall the REAL School is relocating from Mackworth Island in Falmouth to Camp William Hinds in Raymond. The school was divided into two entities at the end of the last school year, according to new principal Rich Meserve. The students who attended the school from out of the RSU14 district will be incorporated into the Brunswick school system and the students from Windham and Raymond will move to the new location in the walkout basement of the new dining hall at Camp Hinds on Plains Road.

“It will be strictly for kids from Windham and Raymond,” said Meserve. “It will be the same mindset and approaches, social, emotional, and environmental that we did before.”

Between 20 to 30 students will attend the program which features experiential learning taught by a seasoned staff with over 50 years of REAL School teaching experience combined. “There’s lots of opportunity for experiential adventure-based curriculum,” Meserve said. 

With Panther Pond, the Tenney River and the existing facilities at the camp like a low ropes course,

the students will be able to continue their lessons while engaging in physical pursuits like paddling on the river, said Meserve. 

There is also a plan for the students to build mountain bike trails to use and that can also be used in the summer for the Scouting program. The school’s hoop house will be relocated. These reciprocal projects will be used jointly by the Scouts and the students, Meserve added. 

“We will have all sorts of new activities to showcase their talents. It’s a fresh start in a beautiful spot,” Meserve said.   

The school on Mackworth Island was antiquated and had many issues that the new space at Camp Hinds will not have, said Meserve. There will be a little change in staff, but “the students know all of us well.” Those transferring with the school are three senior drivers, the administrative assistant, the counselor, three teachers and many of the AmeriCorps volunteers.   

“We believe in the child first philosophy. Smaller class size and increased engagement translates to bright futures for our students,” Meserve said. “It’s a big change and it’s hard to be away from those we’ve worked with. As we move forward we provide a great opportunity for kids in the district. We’re thrilled,” he said. 

Superintendent Sandy Prince toured the facility last week and was excited to have the school located back in the district. 

The space should be completed before school begins in less than a month.  

Why is six afraid of seven? By Michelle Libby

The answer to “Why is six afraid of seven?” is the title of the first album release in 10 years from local celebrity and children’s musician Rick Charette. The iconic voice that many grew up listening to is excited to share 15 new songs in his Seven Ate Nine album.

“The younger ones love it,” Charette said of the joke the title is based on. “It’s one of the songs on the CD with personification of the numbers.” 

The new songs feature soon to be hits like “I Want to Get My Backpack Back”, “Riding on a Zip Line”, “Bacon on the Bus” and “We Can Make a Difference”. The songs feature the distinctive voice of Charette along with children singers and the Bubblegum Band. The band includes Roy Clark on keyboard, Donna Stearns on drums, John Stuart on bass and Pat Keane as guitarist. 

Charette, known as RickCharette, to his fans, never Rick or Mr. Charette, plays venues from his favorite Casco Days, to Old Orchard Beach Pavilion, Bangor, the Portland Tree Lighting, LL Bean’s early New Year’s Eve party and Dundee Park here in Windham, just to name a few. 

“My favorite part is looking at kids’ faces and the conversations after performing,” he said. He has had kids pretend to be RickCharette and come on stage. “It’s a big part of their childhood,” he said. Parents know all of the words to the songs. “It’s quite flattering to me. I wish that I could write 20 songs like Mud,” he said. Mud is his favorite song mostly for what he sees when he’s performing. Everyone knows every single word, he said.  

Charette got his start back when whole language learning was big in schools. He attended a Vermont teacher’s conference and was asked to sing before the keynote speakers for 15 to 20 minutes. Some schools at the time would sing songs together before school. After that conference, many school systems in many states wanted Charette to come sing with their students, creating music and enriching the curriculum. This was all before the Internet and computers, when teachers wrote everything on large charts, he recalled. 

His first recording was in 1983, when he released Bubblegum. With 12 albums under this belt, Charette is still humbled by the support he receives every time he performs. Alligator in the Elevator is still his top selling CD.  

“I’ve wanted to have a new recording for a while,” Charette said. He waited to make sure the music and lyrics were exactly what he wanted them to be. Many of the songs are fun jazzy tunes, influenced by his love of jazz music with his signature sound and scoring that’s perfect for singing along. “I spend so much time involved with this. It’s where my passion is,” Charette said. 

A few songs that Charette has written have had important messages. Superpower was about keeping kids safe from abuse and was used in York County for 30 years. On Seven Ate Nine, We Can Make a Difference challenges kids without being preachy. He often dedicates the song to the Seeds of Peace camp.

“Let’s look out for our neighbors. Be a volunteer. Those little things that matter will come back to you. Let’s walk that extra mile. Make somebody smile.That’s  what our kindness will do.”

The zip line song challenges the kids by talking about gliding in the sky and stepping out of their comfort zone. “The Deer That Thinks She’s a Cow” came from a trip to Ohio to work collaboratively with pre-kindergarten and kindergarteners. Charette and his writing partner Roy Clark saw a deer playing with the cows in the field. The kids knew the deer and said, “he must think he’s a cow,” and a song was born (two years later). Cranky Frankie is about a boy who can’t wake up in the morning. 

“Kids don’t have a chance to do kid activities,” Charette said. The music speaks to the children and they wiggle and sing along to each song. Whether it’s a new song or an old favorite, RickCharette has captured the hearts of children and adults all over the country.

More about each song can be found on Charette’s website with the words to the songs and a little bit about how the song came about. When it comes to writing music “showing up is the most important thing,” he said.

RickCharette and the Bubblegum Band will play at the Maine Wildlife Park in September. Other  
shows are listed on his website.

Seven Ate Nine is available from Bull Moose, Amazon, Google Play and on the website at www.RickCharette.com.

Flip to a Different Eagle Section

Local News - Business - Sports - Entertainment - Lifestyles - Real Estate - Editorial

Camp Hinds hosts dignitaries for briefing on IRT progress - By Michelle Libby

Governor Paul LePage and military officials converged on Camp William Hinds in Raymond on Tuesday for a briefing on the progress the military has been making at the Boy Scout camp over the past three years through the Innovative Readiness Training program (IRT). With projects like replacing the walking bridge over the Tenney River and building a new 20,000 square foot dining hall, the IRT troops come from the Marines, Navy, Air Force and Maine Air Guard reserves for two weeks at a time. Each group that arrives at camp has a specialty that they train on by doing projects set up by the IRT program manager. 

“This camp serves 1 million residents in Maine and is used to serve thousands who visit beautiful Camp Hinds,” said Pine Tree Council Scout Executive Eric Tarbox. “This program and the Assistant Secretary of Defense enabled us to do what we never could have done before.” The camp serves more than 5,000 Scouts in the State of Maine. 

The IRT program began in 1993 to give the military personnel real world experience training, according to Capt. Miles Shepard the civil engineer project manager for the IRT program. The engineering and construction units come for experience with construction, electrical, HVAC, pavement, communications, transportation, bussing to site and back, and food services. 

Camp Hinds is the only Scout council in the nation to have this opportunity, Tarbox told the group gathered. 

 

Working together with all branches of the military helps each group learn to do things better, to improve while teaching each other, said Capt. Kevin Wolff. Wolff outlined the projects completed or started last year which include a new access road, which will keep delivery trucks off the main camp road once the dining hall is completed, put a new dormer on the Messier Training Center, built the Tenney Bridge, built many staff cabins and poured the concrete for the dining hall.

Not only are the working at Camp Hinds, but they are also working for area towns, including Raymond and Casco.   

“Everything the military is doing is phenomenal,” said Lynne Teague, Pine Tree Council commissioner.

This year the units began by remodeling and upgrading the facilities at the medical lodge thanks in part to a design donation from the Stinson family from Sebago Technics, making it a four season building with new flooring, lighting and waterlines. They continued work on the range berms, put in a leach field, which required a lot of hand shoveling as well as dug water lines and communication lines throughout the camp. “They utilize their skills that leave a legacy behind for the Boy Scouts,” Wolff said. 

The IRT is in its seventh out of eight weeks of work this summer. The Boy Scouts will continue the progress after they depart, as well as the Air Reserve, which will take over the project management for next summer. 

 

The invited guests on Tuesday were given a tour of the new dining facility, still under construction, and the existing structure that has been in use since the late 1950s. 

“This is just great. I’m so impressed,” said Governor LePage. “With all branches of government contributing, it’s amazing that they pick up where the others left off. This is the right thing for the right place for the future of our state, the future of our children and the future of our country.”

“It’s very important to show our donors and the leadership from the Pentagon the dual benefit of training our young men and women to serve our country around the world and to see the legacy their leaving for generations for Scouts. By seeing their hard work and contributions in person, they’re able to take pride in their investment in the youth of our country,” said Tarbox. 

The new four season dining hall and Bill and Jackie Thornton STEM center under the dining hall will be able to be used year round and rented out to organizations needing the space. “The sky’s the limit,” said Eagle Scout and board member Horace Horton about the rental potential. 

 

The initial plan was for the dining hall to be used in the summer. However it was determined that it was less expensive to insulate and put in the better sprinkler system making it a year round facility, said Tarbox. 

“I’m looking forward to spending some time in it, said Jake Decrow of Trask-Decrow Machinery who donated the industrial pump to move wastewater from the new facility. His son is a Scout.

The shooting ranges at Camp Hinds are “The finest ranges that any of us know about. They are safe and the best designed,” said Tarbox. The NRA specific ranges were created by RJ Grondin & Sons using ballistic sand and all safety precautions. “This is a better complex than our high adventure complexes,” Tarbox added. 

“It’s impressive,” said Rep. Mike McClellan. “It makes me think what a great job Raymond Select Board is doing. Raymond is a great place to raise a family.” 

“I don’t know of any other places like this,” Tarbox said. Boy Scouts come here from all over the northeast for aquatics, shooting, the challenging outdoor personal experience low elements rope course built by Rotarians and to build fires. “It’s a whole camp. We are the Boy Scouts,” said Tarbox.

Cadet camp teaches valuable life lessons - By Walter Lunt

It was a summer camp unlike most summer camps. About 20 high school and home schooled teens from Windham and other lake region towns chose to participate in a week long program involving strenuous physical training, demanding drills and obedience to adult superiors.

For six days and nights in mid-July, Alpha Co. 1^st Battalion, 3^rd Army Cadets trained in tents and open fields learning the value of teamwork, setting goals and committing 100 percent toward their achievement. The cadets, ages 14 to 17 years old, are part of a school sanctioned program lead by Windham High School science teacher and U.S. Army First Sergeant Dan Wirtz. They meet several times a month through the school year for classes, drills and training exercises. Wirtz explained that the summer training week is a requirement of the Joint Military Cadets of America

“(It’s) a great team building and training exercise…an introduction to the daily life of soldiers, sailors, airmen, coast guardsmen and Marines.”

The highly visible encampment was located on Windham Center Road near the access road to the ball fields. Tents and Maine Army National Guard vehicles occupied the site, which was formerly known as the Strout property.

The cadets have been a tight unit since May of 2015 when the group was formed. During at least three visits made during the training week, cadets were observed working together as one, constantly engaged in supportive roles, and collaborating through assigned tasks with purpose and concentration.

During the course of the week the cadets engaged in numerous, formidable activities such as land navigation using map, compass and GPS; fitness training; marching (including a six mile hike with gear); medical training involving the application of tourniquets, CPR, responding to trauma, buddy-carrying and other evacuation techniques; combat formations that train cadets on engaging hostiles and breaching/clearing rooms; and finally, a field trip to the Gardiner National Guard Training Center to complete their annual qualification on the M-16 rifle and M-9 pistol.   

 

The youthful participants were quick to point out, “We’re not just about drill, and this is not grown-up soldier games.”

Wirtz said, “This is not for everybody,” adding that several participants had dropped out since the program’s inception.

Asked about his interest in the cadet program, Windham High School senior James Mannette, 17, said there is military history in his family and “I’ve always looked up to veterans. I thought this would be a good way to get a taste (of that life) to see if I would like it.” 

Last June Mannette was selected as one of 600 seniors nationwide out of 2,000 applicants to attend a summer seminar at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

“It sealed the deal for me,” he said, “And I’m lovin’ this week. It’s giving me awesome insight on the basics, and it’s so cool to get away with this group as brothers and sisters. Cadets can be an inspiration for the greater good.”

Mannette’s comments were echoed by fellow WHS senior Jordan Nelson, 16, “(This experience) promotes self-discipline and integrity. It’s not kids playing Army. It’s about brotherhood and camaraderie. It takes more than one to make a mission.”

Mannette has set his sights on the Air Force Academy. Nelson said he looks forward to a future in the military, followed by college and the police academy. 

Wirtz credits the Maine Army National Guard, the school system and parents with contributing to the success of the summer session. He said two National Guard recruiters, SFC Gardner and SSG Pernal, were phenomenal teachers and leaders.

According to Gardner, “This is the test, the crucible for more intense training. These kids have stepped up.” And he noted that the cadets seemed to have absorbed a great deal from their year under Wirtz. He also observed how the older students were acting as mentors to the newer cadets. 

“Even if they don’t join (the military),” continued Gardner, “the discipline and respect they’ve learned will carry into their life.”

For example, he said, “If I call mess at 1300 hours (meal time at 1 p.m.), and they’re not there, give me push-ups. It’s about consequences.”

Breakfast and lunch at the encampment required little preparation. No cooking. Instead, a MRE (Meal Ready to Eat), which is a field ration consumed by servicemen and women that has a full day of calories, is eaten. The evening meal was a bit more palatable for most of the cadets. Wirtz explained that parents would deliver a home cooked dinner, and that Amato’s and KFC in Windham stepped up as well.

Asked to reflect on the week, Wirtz said he felt the cadets learned a lot about themselves, dug deep, and discovered they could accomplish more than they ever thought they could. Overall, “…the week was an event that will stick with the cadets for the rest of their lives.”

DSCN2025 C/PVT Katelyn Walker and C/PVT  Brianna Spaulding

DSCN2029 C/PV2 Nick Nimblett

DSCN2030 C/CPL Zach Willson (Seated) C/PV2 Nick Nimblett (putting camo facepaint on C/CPL Willson C/PVT Braden Black (behind) DSCN 2031 C/PFC James Mannette DSCN 2032 C/PVT Braden Black