Maine Youth Leadership Day 12.0

It’s certainly makes my Top 10 List of My Favorite Things We Do at Hyde. (Hmm… A future blog post, maybe?)

What began 12 years ago with a handful of schools and <150 Maine school kids, continued last week as we hosted 1200+ Maine school kids and teachers from more than 50 schools across the state for a 1/2 day of speakers, workshops, lunch, networking, and all-around camaraderie.

The morning kicked off with an engaging interactive student panel led by Hearts of Pine soccer club founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson.

Then, all particpants were asked to join up with their Hyde student hosts according to the word on their name tags…

Happy-To-Do-It (HTDI) Hyde Hosts:

Then each group went off to their respective workshops — each participant attended three — led by a range of presenters. Let’s see, we had alums…

And even alum/student tag teams:

We learned from people who work at Bath Iron Works, Bath Savings Bank, Teens to Trails, U.S. Coast Guard, Big Brothers & Sisters of Maine, coaches from Thomas College, media people from the Portland Press Herald. We even discussed humpback whales!

Students and teachers from several Maine schools also led workshops including: Bridgton Academy, Brunswick, Edward Little, crosstown Morse High, Mt. Ararat, and Wiscasset. I was flat-out touched when I popped into this workshop…

… led by an articulate and confident quartet of students I took to be of middle school age.

We also had many Hyde students lead workshops…

And we even had a Hyde father/daughter combo workshop:

Not to mention a HAPA parent:

After the workshops, we returned to The Joe for lunch.

After lunch, we re-assembled for a final student panel where a cross-section of students from the whole spectrum of schools present shared leadership lessons they have learned. Then we wrapped it up with a slide show capturing the spirit of a day well spent. Already looking forward to next year. Come join us!

Onward, Malcolm Gauld

PS: Special Thanks to our sponsors: General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works, Bath Savings, and Hannaford Supermarkets!