We are a group of teenagers who are out to help our
school and community. We meet every two weeks at three o'clock on
Wednesdays. When we get together we discuss issues at school and around
the community and then try to fix them. Composing this group are members
from high schools of Houlton and Hodgdon Maine. Previously we cleaned up a
park in each of the two towns and planted trees along the river bank of the
largest river running through the area. Presently we are working on
improving the bathroom conditions. They are really really bad. The
plumbing in the Houlton High School is so bad that the flushes over flow when
flushed and the water sits on the floor because the floor drain is plugged.
Paint is peeling and graffiti is in both of the schools bathrooms.
Both Hodgdon and Houlton have bad odors emitting from the lavatories.
Some smell like cat pea and some like well it is a disgusting stench
lingering around. We hope to resolve the problem soon. Last April we
visited the middle of nowhere. Out in a small town of Princeton we went on
a retreat. We learned lots of useful information like leadership skills,
how to go tackle a school issue of concern, and we got acquainted with each
other. During the summer we have made plans to "spruce up" a bathroom at
each of the high schools. Since the majority of the members forgot to show
up for the last tree planting we have decided to plant 75 more trees along the
river bank behind Hodgdon's elementary school. We also wrote to the local
Judge and asked him about performing a real live trial in the school. It
would be trying a guy or gal for drinking or drug use or possibly both to show
students what the consequences are of making some not so wise choices.
MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS
The last meeting was held in the Houlton High
school at 3 o'clock on 5-27/98. The members present were as follows:
Sara Drouin, Shirley Wallace, Darcey Wallace, Christina Alexander, Daniela
Dana (head honcho), Mrs. Gross (advisor), Mrs. Matthews (advisor), and me, Josh
Bishop. We covered some ground at that meeting involving tree planting on
the 10th of June at 3 o'clock, have fundraisers such as bake sales, car washes,
and bottle drives; Have a student lounge inside the school building, a coffee
house where students could go. Possible we may have another retreat.
It was proposed that we formalize a business plan for a coffee house,
student lounge, or other like things. Judge Griffiths has responded
favorable to our letter that we sent to him on the in school live trial.
It was also decided that we would meet but once a month during the
summer.
On 6-10/98 we planted about 75 trees around the
Hodgdon High School. It was great fun but the flies were thick. The
following people attended the planting: Maria Brown, Nicole Hutchinson,
Sara Drouin, Daniela Dana, Don Collins, DeWayne Morse, Danielle Brown, Darcey
Wallace, Shirely Wallace, Mrs. Matthews, Mrs. Gross, Josh Bishop, Lowell and
Eben Matthews. Thanks guys and gals you made it all happen! Our next
meeting won't be until June 8 because of finals. At the meeting we will be
presenting the petition to the principal and school board.
At the meeting on 6-24/98 we voted on not to do
the bathroom in Houlton since they haven't been coming to the meetings regularly
but instead voted on doing two bathrooms in Hodgdon if time permits. The
next time we will meet will be on this coming Saturday where we will be going to
Augusta for a Governor's Service Institute. After that, on Monday, we will
be setting out to Fogg's, one of the area's hardware stores, to buy the needed
supplies for the renovations. Hopefully we can start in on painting on the
following Wednesday. The people that participated today were:
Danielle Brown, Shirley Wallace, Darcey Wallace, Shawna Farrar, Sara
Drouin, Josh Bishop, Mr. DeWayne Morse, Mrs. Shelly Gross, Mrs. Daniela Dana,
and our cooperative principal, Mr. Steve Fitzpatrick.
Time has permitted and we have completed two
Hodgdon bathrooms. The girls is blue w/pink stalls and a rosy border.
The boys is also blue but lighter w/green stalls and the border has a camp
and surrounding woods. They both turned out great! As a break from
all the hard work we just took a camping trip in our state park in Aroostook,
Maine. It is beautiful! We stayed in tents for one night and got
very few winks of sleep. The active members of these projects are:
Sara Drouin, Darcey Wallace, Danielle Brown, Josh Bishop, Shirley Wallace,
Mr. DeWayne Morse, and Mrs. Daniela Dana.
First off the people present ~ Danielle Brown,
Shirley Wallace, Darcey Wallace, Sara Drouin, Kristy Brooker, Nikki Francis,
Midel Scott, Mrs. Shelly gross, Wendy Stewart, Sarah Callnan, Josh Bishop,
Nathan Tingley, Nicholas Tingley, Mr. DeWayne Morse, Jessica Schaub, and
Christina Alexander.
Daniela Dana has resigned and we now have Jessica
Schaub. Our next meeting is to be on Wednesday, December 5, 1998 at
11:00. At the meeting today we had two STOP Members attend and gave us a
proposition, which we accepted, that we help them and they help us stop tobacco!
Later on we will get the opportunity to meet with the Minnesota Youth Action
Team who have made a huge impact on their community.
On Friday and Saturday we will be attending lots
of activities and training. 115 students will be attending from schools
around the state. A new policy for area schools has been drawn up on
strong tobacco prevention.
The two STOP members would like for a
student from each school to go with them to be on the state planning committee.
There have been people gracious enough to apply SAYAT for a $1,000 grant.
We should know if we receive it within about ten days. Well that's
it for now, thanks to everybody who came!
A GREAT BIG THANKS GOES OUT TO VITAL PATHEWAYS FOR
SPONSORING US AND STANDING BEHIND US. YOU HAVE BEEN OF A GREAT HELP.
THANKS WHOLE BUNCHES!!!
Also please SIGN MY GUEST-BOOK!
