The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the events of everyday living throughout the nation. Boothbay Region Elementary School is adapting its curriculum to provide a safe learning environment following Maine’s Department of Education implementation of CDC guidelines. Some instruction will take place in person in traditional classrooms, some will occur “virtually” via the Internet online, resulting in a hybrid educational experience best adapted to each student and their family.

Sandy Wheeler, who teaches 7th-grade science, has teamed up with Southport summer residents Paul and Sharma Schacknow, to provide an innovative science lab program for students, whether in the classroom or at home. The Schacknow Family Foundation, Inc., has provided a charitable grant of $10,000 to enable the teachers of the 5th through 8th grades to develop 150 “Science Kits to Go.” Teachers will be creating these kits to provide students with all the necessary materials to carry out activities that support the current curriculum. Shawna Kurr, BRES Principal, said “We are thrilled that Mrs. Wheeler and the Schacknows have presented us with this unique opportunity. The teachers will be able to come up with creative lab experiments suitable for each grade, offering the same learning experience no matter where it takes place.”

BRES has purchased an online curriculum for the year, but teachers are excited to be able to offer hands-on learning opportunities for students in this period of digital learning. Students will experiment with yeast environments to blow up balloons, build a seismograph, design car bumpers to test forces, make sundials, create rubber band racers, and develop models for many concepts in science.

The Schacknows have spent the past 12 summers on Southport, wintering in South Florida. Sharma, a retired attorney, is a native of Bangor, Maine. Paul, a retired ophthalmologist, hails from Brooklyn, New York. Since coming to the Boothbay region, they have contributed time and funding to many local charitable, civic and municipal organizations. Sandy Wheeler has been teaching at BRES for 17 years. She and her husband Rob, a Boothbay native, reside on Barters Island. As the owners of J.Edward Knight, they too support many local and statewide non-profit entities.