Did you know Boothbay Region High School has a monthly Seahawk Proud celebration recognizing students and staff who have gone above and beyond helping someone else at school? Educational technicians Christina Morley and Caitlin Shepherd started the program to encourage kindness and recognize all of the positive student achievements. This celebration isn’t about grades or sports, it is about being a good citizen.

Since COVID-19, many students in Maine have begun distance learning from home to continue their education. BRHS realizes this is a new and scary time for all students, and Seahawk Proud is adjusting for this crisis. Students are using Google Classroom to connect with their teachers and get access to their assignments. To help with the social isolation we can all feel as we practice social distancing and distance learning, the special education technicians at the high school have created the Seahawk Strong Challenge to encourage students to stay in touch with their classmates and teachers in an educational and social way. We, especially teenagers, are social beings, so it is important that we still feel connected even though we aren’t at school together every day. The Seahawk Strong Challenge encourages students to post pictures and videos of the daily challenges while keeping them engaged in their schoolwork as well.

The pictures and videos are posted on their respective classrooms and also on a Google classroom that includes all the teachers and students from BRHS. We have also included the eighth graders at Boothbay Region Elementary School , as we explore schooling in the digital age. The eighth graders are also using Google Classroom for their work, and we thought it would be a great introduction to the fun things we do at the high school to make all students feel included.

The BRHS staff hopes that through this time of social isolation, the students realize that we are not only concerned about their academic lives, but we are concerned about how they are holding up during this national crisis that has changed the world. Ask your children, grandchildren and family friends what challenge they have completed today!