Our youth is our future, and it is important to invest in our next generation. For the past three years, Altitude Rippleffect has been arming students with important life leadership skills that are necessary to build a strong community in Windham.
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| Windham Middle School students participate in a ropes course during an Altitude Rippleeffect event on Cow Island last year. The unique partnership helps students develop leadership skills through outdoors exploration and builds confidence. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
Carlsen Cook grew up in Oxford Hills and when she graduated from the University of New Hampshire, she headed west for work. She ended up in Washington state where she was a biotech for U.S. Fish and Wildlife, a National Park Ranger, and taught environmental education for a nonprofit called North Cascades Institute.
She began teaching after earning a master’s degree in science education from Oregon State University. Her goal in teaching continues to be to introduce her students to the world beyond their classroom, to bring formal education and informal education together. She taught in Mosier, Oregon for about 10 years and her husband, Carlsen Cook and their daughter moved back to Maine in 2021. They settled in Scarborough, and she started teaching science at WMS.
“I taught eighth-grade science for one year at WMS and when administrators decided to create an alternative education pathway I jumped at the opportunity,” said Carlsen Cook. “Since the fall of 2022 three teachers, this year myself, Lisa Anderson, and Sean Mains, have worked integrally to build an alternative pathway for seventh and eighth-grade students. We are approaching year three of development.”
As part of that alternative education pathway, a partnership between WMS Altitude and the Rippleffect field guides and director was reached.
“I have also worked to fund this partnership through the Town of Windham Substance Abuse Prevention Grant,” Carlsen Cook said. “Grant money has allowed us to work with Rippleffect as part of the Altitude pathway.”
The new partnership started in May 2023. The idea was born out of Altitude's time on Cow Island, Carlsen Cook said.
“For the 2023-2024 school year, we designed monthly excursions that offered outdoor challenges to both seventh and eighth grade participants,” she said. “The Altitude community spent time hiking, climbing, and engaging in teamwork games outdoors. We are about to embark on our second culminating trip to Cow Island. Eighth grade will have an overnight. Seventh grade will have a day trip.”
The goal of this partnership is to challenge students in ways they may not be challenged in their daily lives within the traditional school setting.
“We work with the intent of exploring students' abilities and the assets they contribute to their peers, and their community,” says Cook. “We strive to show students that there are many healthy ways to experience the world and face challenges at whatever level they are comfortable.”
The Altitude Rippleffect partnership is now an integral part of the Altitude pathway at WMS and each month, Rippleffect field guides visit the classroom the day before an excursion.
“We prepare together by reviewing the schedule, packing needs, lessons in outdoor adventure ethics (such as Leave-No-Trace) and engaging in energizing community games,” Carlsen Cook says. “We then bring seventh and eighth grades separately on their adventure. Following the excursion, we complete an in-class reflection that encompasses recognizing a high point from the day, a challenge that was faced and how it was overcome, and we look to the next trip and ask students what they are looking forward to.” <
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