September/October 2015 in Review

​As promised, we wanted to sum up this past month and a half at Front Street.

• On Friday, September 25th, we kicked off our Friday movie afternoons with a screening of Disney’s Mulan! We are thinking that based on the positive review this will likely be a monthly event.
• On October 8th, Mitch from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension (an organization that has support Front Street and the study center since we’ve reopened), helped us throw a community barbecue! We munched on hotdogs and hamburgers, played outside, and got to know some of our neighbors. A big thank you to Regina for donating her grill!
• For the weeks of October 12th through 23rd, we learned about Fire Safety and had several students submit original posters tackling awareness regarding the need for working smoke detectors in all homes. We will be finding out soon who the cash winners are – all students living in Section 8 or Portland Housing Authority units were welcome to submit, and regardless of the material winners we witnessed the creation of many truly strong works of graphic design.
  
• On October 14th, farmer Isabel of Frith Farm came in and taught us about the fall vegetable harvest in Maine – a demonstration in which we got to eat our way to understanding the differences between various nutritious foods! The crescendo came the week after, on October 20th, when a group of us drove down to the farm in Scarborough and got to tour the site. We helped harvest and wash carrots, met the pigs and chickens, and got to learn a little bit more about local agriculture in Maine. Thanks again, Isabel!
  
• For all of September and October we have been taking part in a reading challenge. Any student that reads and writes (or draws) about one book from our “reading challenge” bookshelf gets an official invitation to a reader’s pizza party Friday, November 6th. A big thank you to OTTO Pizza for donating slices!
  
• We have started up a “Super-star of the day” series. This title is given to students in our space that exhibit all the qualities of a super-star community member: demonstrating their best effort in work and play, being kind and actively helpful to others, and sincerely expressing themselves to staff and friends. Unless guardians have marked off that their students may not be photographed, students are invited to take a photo next to our super-star sign on the days they are nominated!
  
• Students have been cranking out countless artistic creations since we’ve opened our doors this September! Activities we have worked on include but are not limited to:
  
  • weaving with salvaged sticks and flowers we collected, leaf rubbing, self-portrait-creations, book-making, card and poster making for sick friends, and contributing to our community space by making works we can decorate our walls with.
    

We also have a party planning committee in full swing with plans to celebrate Halloween later this week. We will most likely share treats, enjoy some music, and decorate the center with our spooky art.

If you would like to bring a pot-luck item to our space on Friday to share, please email [email protected] or let us know in-person!
Our student party planner is Ajok.

That’s some of the things we’ve been up to so far! Please let us know if you have programming needs or dreams that you would like to see in the Front Street space.
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Be well,
Benny and Martha