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Morse students present 'Can We Project' civic-dialogue program to RSU1 board
Summary
Two Morse High School juniors described the three-retreat 'Can We Project' that trains students in civil dialogue through story exchange and structured activities; they noted attendance and bus-schedule constraints and plans for next year.
Two Morse High School juniors, Charlie Wear and Maisie Mains, presented the Can We Project — a civic-dialogue program that uses three retreats and in-school follow-ups to teach students communication skills and productive civic engagement.
Charlie told the board the program was launched in 2018 and now includes roughly 20 schools across Maine and New Hampshire; Morse began participation this school year with a cohort of about 30 students. "Our goal is to equip high school students across Morse with vital communication skills to actively participate as engaged citizens in a democracy," Charlie said.
The students described program activities: a "story exchange" in which partners retell each other's experiences, picture-paddle rotations to surface values and shared themes, and a "civil tea" small-group exercise to explore whether politics has a role in classrooms. They said the first retreat was run at Morse, the second at the Augusta Civic Center (where bus schedules limited their participation in the afternoon), and the third at Lincoln Academy and Mount Arat. Lower attendance at the April retreat was attributed to scheduling conflicts.
The presenters said they are working to bring program activities into the school community — for example, leading 40-minute sessions for freshmen — and hope to recruit more students and possibly co-facilitate retreats next year.
Ending: Board members thanked the students for a clear presentation; organizers will continue to recruit and adapt the program format to local logistics (transportation, scheduling) next year.
