Understanding the student population means more than tending to the smaller stuff – like massaging the rules about homework. It also means imparting a vision for the school and for each student who goes there. Principal Theriault uses the metaphor of a jigsaw puzzle. The big picture—the cover of the box that you put in front of you -- represents the image of where you are aiming-- your hopes and aspirations. It is an image to keep in mind as you try to put the small pieces together.

A recent small piece that was a big victory for Shead was winning a 4-year grant from the MELMAC Education Foundation in 2007, and again in 2011. An aside: I heard these word “grant” used many times in talk of development plans for Eastport. In my hometown of Washington DC, grant is not always a strong, positive word; it easily carries connotations of earmarks or handouts or somehow easy money.

But here in Eastport, I thought, the definition of grant sounded honorable, and even lifesaving. It was exactly – exactly – what grants are meant for and how they should be distributed. The MELMAC grant provided 40,000 dollars to promote a post-secondary plan for Eastport students. That means, among other things, that they could put a bunch of kids on a bus, drive them to Boston, stay overnight, and attend a nationwide college fair. For many students, this would be the beginning of how you imagine what your life could be and how you might begin to get there.

Last year’s seniors went in a variety of directions, including the ever-popular University of Maine in nearby Machias, Washington County Community College in nearby Calais, and into the military. One student matriculated at a college in Massachusetts.

So, how do you teach the kids of Shead every day? Damon Weston, the social studies teacher, has thought about this a lot. He grew up in nearby Trescott, graduated from Oberlin College, and returned to Maine to rake blueberries in 2002. He has a lot of family now in Eastport, all pillars of the town. Damon talked about striking a balance in teaching the solid core of his subjects while keeping them relevant to the here and now, and the futures of his students. He is on the front lines of one of the town’s most serious worries: how to prepare and convince its young people to stay, work, and live in Eastport. His students are the generation that will carry forward the economic and spiritual rebuilding of the town, which is moving with such gusto now.

We soon got sidetracked into talking about the course that Weston developed on the history of Eastport. What could be better! He has old maps, old photos, old illustrations of where the train tracks used to run from inland to the water’s edge, old stories about how the Roosevelts came with their brood by train to Eastport en route to their summers across the channel in Campobello. On the streets of Eastport, I had heard stories of how Eleanor used to come shopping and stop to chat with the shopkeeper and the ladies. His course sounded perfect to me—history right in the backyard of where his students live. (Above, from History Map.)

Damon Weston found a way to connect his students to the history of the town. English teacher Ben Brigham has found a way to connect his students to the current events of the town. They are reading The Glass Menagerie, which was currently being performed at Eastport Arts Center, in a restored building just down the street (at right). Students could attend the play for free.