Shortridge Academy Students Support Local Non-Profit

Moose Mountains Regional Greenways is already getting ready for its 10th annual Woods, Water and Wildlife Festival, which will take place on Saturday, August 11 at Branch Hill Farm in Milton Mills.

Students from Shortridge Academy on Governor's Road in Milton will spend several Wednesday and Saturday afternoons this summer creating a new festival event for kids. Shortridge Counselor Craig Pearson and seven students from the academy started work in a beautiful wooded glade at Branch Hill Farm on a recent Saturday. It was their first day on the project but despite the heat and humidity, the students accomplished a lot, removing downed tree limbs and brush in several areas to make walking easier for kids and parents attending the festival. Students also brainstormed how they would convert this part of the woods into an imaginary land of the South Pacific.

A Tiki Hut, a pirate ship, an island fort, and an enchanted forest will each be constructed primarily from natural materials using hand tools but enhanced by Shortridge student Art Department projects. Branch Hill Farm will provide any needed heavy equipment or materials.

As part of their Positive Youth Development program, Shortridge students volunteer regularly for organizations such as the Cocheco Valley Humane Society in Dover, the Preble Street Soup Kitchen in Portland, and the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) in the White Mountains. Craig Pearson commented, "Branch Hill Farm and Shortridge are virtually neighbors, so this volunteer opportunity is very appealing. And it gives students a chance to connect to their child's sense of play and wonder in nature, while making use of skills they've learned doing trail work for the AMC."

Added MMRG's Executive Director, "We're delighted that Shortridge wants to participate in our festival preparations this way. I couldn't have said it better than the Shortridge student who exclaimed, while surveying the scene from atop a tree stump, 'Kids are really going to have fun here!'"

The annual WWW festival serves as a fundraiser for MMRG through generous sponsorships by many area businesses; all donations support MMRG's land conservation and educational outreach work. Other event sponsorships are still open; interested business owners or individuals please contact Virginia Long at 603-755-1158.

More volunteers are needed in preparation for the festival and on the day itself; all such helpers get in free! To volunteer, please contact Kari Lygren, MMRG's Education Coordinator, at 603-978-7125 or email info@mmrg.info. For more information on volunteer opportunities and the festival schedule of events, see www.mmrg.info/festival.

MMRG is a non-profit land conservation organization serving the communities of Brookfield, Farmington, Middleton, Milton, New Durham, Wakefield, and Wolfeboro.

Shortridge Academy is one of only a few therapeutic boarding schools in the Northeast accredited by the rigorous New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and the only school of its kind that explicitly utilizes the evidenced-based Positive Youth Development (PYD) philosophy to guide the individualized therapeutic programming for students. Since 2002, Shortridge Academy has been helping students and families who are struggling with academic performance, loss of interest in activities and increased conflict in family or peer relationships.

Shortridge Academy is a year round, college preparatory, therapeutic boarding school for young men and women ages 14-18 years old, grades 9-12.