Belfast high school students apply maritime archeology skills to old shipwreck

 Fri, 11/12/2021 - 1:30pm

Normal low tide would have exposed more of the vessel for measurements but recent nor'easters made that a challenge. (Photo courtesy Chip Lagerbom)

Even with higher than normal water level, measurements were made and water tests such as temperature and salinity were conducted. (Photo courtesy Chip Lagerbom)

BELFAST — Students in the Belfast Area High School Marine Studies Class spent time in late October and early November investigating an old intertidal shipwreck on the Passagassawakeag River, measuring the vessels’ planks, submerged at high tide and covered in seaweed.

With a focus on maritime archaeology, students conducted an in-depth analysis for their required scale drawing of the vessel.

To that goal, students needed to accurately measure the length, width and thickness of timbers, futtocks and keel pieces of the vessel while also noting any iron spikes or hardware, saw marks or wooden trunnels.

Various artifacts were also collected to be cleaned and analyzed back at the school as to their association or not with the vessel. Students were tasked with developing and testing hypotheses regarding the kind of vessel, its use, its age, and its fate. They will all also prepare a detailed scaled map of the site and a site report.

BAHS Marine Studies instructors are Lisa White, Dave Thomas and Chip Lagerbom

RSU 71 board creates new ad hoc committees, approves extracurricular COVID guidelines

 

The committees will help inform board members about options to address three district issues.

BY KENDRA CARUSO

Source: File photo

BELFAST — Regional School Unit 71 Board of Directors on Nov. 8 approved the formation of three new ad hoc committees to look into regionalization, transportation, and athletic fields and track. Board members also approved a final draft of COVID-19 winter sports and performing arts guidelines that differ slightly from the draft approved at the previous meeting.

The committees will each have nine members who can be from the public, district staff, or anyone the board will consider. The board chairman will appoint committee members to one-year terms, with the superintendent and finance director acting as advisory members.

The first ad hoc committee will look into regionalizing the district’s elementary schools. District officials have been floating the idea for a while. Superintendent Mary Alice McLean has said that among other benefits, it would reduce district operating costs without eliminating any teaching positions.

The committee will consider several options, including full regionalization, repairing current schools, building a new school for the tri-towns and other ideas.

The transportation ad hoc committee will look at several options for busing, including upgrading and securing the existing bus garage, vehicles and buses; partnering with the city of Belfast to move into a space it creates; building a new garage; and outsourcing transportation.

The final ad hoc committee will consider options for reconfiguring the district’s track and athletic fields, including conducting a needs assessment, hiring a firm with money budgeted for this fiscal year, and keeping existing athletic infrastructure.

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There was some discussion  about how many members of the public should be allowed on the committees and other issues regarding the committees’ development.

Board members had also discussed forming the ad hoc committees during an Oct. 12 meeting, where they directed district staff to create a draft to be approved at a future meeting.

Previously, the board had considered tasking the Long Range Planning Committee with addressing the three issues, but several board members thought it would be better to break the work up among three groups of people in committees.

In other business, board members approved a final draft of the Mid-Coast Superintendents’ Region Indoor Sports and Performing Arts 2021-22 COVID-19 Guidelines. At the last meeting Oct. 25, the board had approved a draft of the guidelines, which included allowing masked spectators at sporting and performing arts events, letting away teams use locker rooms and making masking optional for benched athletes.

The final draft differs slightly from the previous one in that benched players must wear masks during indoor games. Officials participating in sporting events may remove masks during games. McLean floated the idea of mandatory pool testing for all athletes and performers, but board members shot down the idea.

McLean has been in discussions with other area superintendents to create similar guidelines for athletes and spectators since the Maine Principals’ Association decided not to issue COVID-19 guidelines for winter games this year, leaving it up to individual districts.

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There is little guidance coming from the organization, which oversees high school sports. It is considering requiring wrestlers to have the COVID-19 vaccine in order to compete, which concerns RSU 71 Board Member Cory Seekins, who thinks vaccinations should be optional.

Seekins also doubled down on his preference for sidelined athletes to have the option not to wear a mask during games. Apparently compromising, he conceded the issue, considering the decision not to require athletes and performers to be in pool testing, though it is highly recommended.

“I’ve heard the idea that a good compromise is when both sides are unhappy,” he said, at which board members shared a laugh.

Board members discussed the guidelines for over 40 minutes. The draft passed with two board members voting against it. The guidelines also apply to middle school winter sports and performing arts shows.

RSU 71 Board allows spectators to games, performances, approves in-person meetings

 Spectators will have to follow COVID-19 guidelines to attend games, and meetings will continue to have a Zoom option, with board members meeting in person.

BY KENDRA CARUSO

Region School Unit 71 central office. File photo

BELFAST — Regional School Unit 71 Board of Directors decided to allow masked spectators into indoor sporting events and performances over the winter. It also decided to let participating student athletes and performers choose whether or not to wear masks. And members agreed to meet in person.

The Maine Principals Association is not issuing guidance this year on how districts should handle sporting events, so Superintendent Mary Alice McLean has been in contact with superintendents in area towns the school usually competes with to develop a set of mostly uniform rules regarding events and performances.

She presented a draft of the Midcoast Superintendent Agreement for Sports and Performing Arts to baord members Oct. 25. Board members agreed that spectators should only be allowed in school buildings outside of regular school hour,s so visitor restrictions will still be in place during the school day.

Board member David Crabiel had reservations about students taking admissions who might have to enforce the mask mandate for spectators. Finance Director Chandra Hodgdon said the school’s mask supply is low, but she thinks most people have reusable masks that they will probably wear to events.

Chairman Ryan Otis said he was apprehensive about approinge the plan in draft form when it could change at McLean’s next meeting with the other Midcoast superintendents.

Board Member Cory Seekins also expressed concerns over the mental health toll required quarantining is having on children. McLean said the district must follow state guidelines on quarantining requirements.

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Student athletes from other schools will also be allowed to use the locker rooms during games and competitions, which was not permitted last year.

In addition, board members agreed to start having meetings in person. Some board members were apprehensive about meeting in schools and talked about finding a large enough place to hold board members and members of the public.

Board meetings will be held in the Belfast Area High School band room with a Zoom option for people who want to attend virtually. Members of the public are asked to wear a mask if attending in person. The next meeting is Nov. 8 at 5:30 p.m.

WCTC’s new go-kart program teaches more than just mechanics

 A pilot program at Waldo County Technical Center is building go-karts while students get a taste of several programs available at the school.

BY FRAN GONZALEZ

Waldo County Technical Center students build go-karts Oct. 28. Photo by Fran Gonzalez

WALDO — Students in a new go-kart building program at Waldo County Technical Center are learning physics, fractions, angles and torque without even knowing it. The course also builds confidence and basic trade skills, according to Ryan Stackpole, automotive tech instructor at the Tech Center.

The Go-Kart Initiative, or just Go-Kart, as it is known, is a collaboration between Gilman Russell, who teaches auto collision and composites, and Stackpole, with the goal of introducing younger students to the tech school and giving them a taste of several trades. 

Matthew Gray, left, and Jaxon Maglaras, both ninth graders at Belfast Area High School, work on assembling a go-kart Oct. 28 at the Waldo County Technical Center. Photo by Fran Gonzalez

Last year, Stackpole’s class did a mock-up of a go-kart, complete with custom bumpers and exhaust. This year, he said, ”is our first real year” as a collaboration between the two trade classes. “These guys are our guinea pigs,” Russell added.

“It gives them an opportunity to figure out what they really enjoy, or an understanding of what they like,” Stackpole said. All the students in the class, according to Russell, get a chance to weld, pipe bend and paint, along with designing a roll-bar, bumpers and an exhaust.

The metal tubing for the go-karts comes disassembled as a kit with everything but an engine and roll bar. Gilman said the engines are purchased from Harbor Freight and students design their own roll bar and weld it to their kart. They can also paint the frame and engine to their liking.

The carts come with no instruction manual, Stackpole said. “We built a mock-up last year to give them a reference.” They assemble the pieces and make sure it all fits together. All the mountings are the same, he said, but the students can design and customize bumpers and exhaust. “They are all slightly different.”

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A Texas company provides the frames in the kit, and when assembled, Stackpole said, it looks similar to a Manco-style go-kart.

Stackpole said when they first received the engines, they tore them apart, then pieced them back together to familiarize students with the different components in a motor. The class also installed steering and suspension parts on each cart before bringing them to Russell’s class for painting and refinishing. “They have total artistic freedom on these,” Gillman said.

“You take a student that’s never turned a wrench, tearing down a motor,” Stackpole said. “It builds confidence.” The course also teaches students the importance of being organized, putting parts in plastic bags and labeling everything, he said.

Using the pipe-bending machine, Russell said the students learn about angles, measurements and spring-back — when the pipe retracts from the original measurement. They learn they have to go beyond the measurement to hit it right on, he said.

Russell said after the go-karts are assembled, the students will go back to his class to design composite bodies, which will go over the frames. Once the four go-karts are completed they hope to have students race them in timed trials around the parking lot at the Tech Center after Christmas. “Best time wins,” he said. 

Another set of timed trials will take place in the spring with the completion of second semester go-karts.  Stackpole said the response so far has been incredibly positive. “We’ve got seven students from the freshmen class,” he said. “It is a half-year course, so potentially we could have another seven students (next semester), which is unheard-of.”

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When you ask a kid, “You want to learn welding or how to bend a pipe?” you might not get as good of a response as if you asked, “You want to build a go-kart?” Stackpole said.

Dana Harriman, a tenth grade student at Mount View High School, stands next to a go-kart he is working on at the Waldo County Technical Center Oct. 28. Photo by Fran Gonzalez

Dana Harriman, a sophomore at Mount View, is bending roll bars in class today and said his favorite part of the class is welding. “My dad is a welder, and I would like to follow in his footsteps,” he said.

Matthew Gray, a Belfast Area High School freshman, said making the roll bar was his favorite part of the building process. “Today I’m going to do some welding,” he added.

Student Services Coordinator Bonnie Kein said Go-Kart includes aspects of many programs at WCTC, including auto tech, auto collision/composites, small engines, graphic design, welding and lots of math. Students earn half a math credit, half a fine art credit, and one elective credit through this one-semester course.  

“Our hope is, with this taste of WCTC, Go-Kart students realize our school is a place they want to return to during their junior and senior year and will plan accordingly with their school counselor,” she said. 

The program targets ninth and tenth graders, she said, with the second semester of the year starting Jan. 18. “We still have a couple spots available for interested students,” she said, and encouraged students to speak with their school counselor to sign up.

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Kein added, “WCTC is always willing to accept donations to support the valuable programs we offer.”

Stackpole said, “All of this stuff is transferable at some point. They will learn about hand tools, how to take stuff apart and put it back together.

“These guys may never do this again, or maybe they will find themselves on the side of the road (with a break-down) and be able to figure out what to do.”

For more information, visit  waldotech.org/.

A go-kart prototype shows a custom-designed bumper Oct. 28 at the Waldo County Technical Center. Photo by Fran Gonzalez