My overall experience from last summer using the Brown Grant to attend an intensive summer art program at Maine College of Art and Design I feel has been extremely positive and educational towards my future. It has given me an extraordinary opportunity to learn how to exist and be productive in a genuine art college environment. I’d made friends and lasting connections with people and other fellow artists that can help further my future in an artistic career.

I’m Shelby Fetcho and I did an internship with the after school program. I helped the kids read, do some homework and also play with them. This helped me with figuring out age groups and the structure of a school environment. This also helped me with my communication skills. I love building bonds with each kid and getting to know them and all the different things about them. It was one of the best experiences anyone could ask for. 

This summer I had the opportunity to take a course on sharks or more specifically all elasmobranchs. This course is run by Cornell and the University of New Hampshire. The course took place on Appledore Island just on the border of Maine and New Hampshire. The whole experience was really different from what I had experienced before. Sure I have had lots of experiences with science, two of them thanks to previous Brown Grants, but this was the first ocean one. I learned so much and some of it wasn’t even related to science. I learned that certain things come with living on a small island that I never would have thought of. First of all, water and electricity are precious. The island makes all its own electricity and the fact that the island is ninety-five acres surrounded by salt water should explain the water conservation. We were limited to two showers a week, and no laundry (laundry was only offered to those staying longer). I felt like I was out there getting the full field experience by living with the constraints of the area. 

I got to go on a boat and be a part of scientific shark study which was great, minus the seasickness. We left before five am and came back eleven hours later! I had hardly ever been on a boat before and while I couldn’t personally help with the sharks (regulations) I watched as they did things like take a muscle punch and a blood sample. I helped take down the notes for one of the sharks! I had to repeat back what they had said for length and take the time for when the samples were taken. We also noted the time of capture and release of the sharks, and whether it was a good or bad release. All were good releases. 

I had about ten hours worth of lectures, which I thought would be boring, but I actually really enjoyed them and learned so much from them. Like did you know that some sharks can vomit out their stomach turning them inside out to get out something bad? Or that sharks don’t have any external pain receptors? Sharks are really, really cool, and I did get to touch a shark. We had an anatomy and physiology project, and a dissection activity. They get sharks donated to them when they are unfortunate enough to end up as by-catch. I got to dissect the shark and look at its internal organs, and sketch and label all the parts. I didn't think I was someone who would like lab work, but it was really cool.  

 One of the most eye opening parts of this trip was this three day project done with a group. We started by listening to an associative podcast and then we read a scientific paper. We then had to design a study that was connected with what we learned in the paper, and write our own “scientific paper”. The project was very intensive, and culminated in an “outreach project”. Unfortunately we had neither the resources or time to actually carry it all out. I however found it incredible the amount of specificity required for this. I had a great group and I found writing a scientific paper to be a bit thrilling honestly. 

This experience was awesome and I am glad to have had the opportunity to do the course.

My name is Angelina Gotshall, I did an internship with Sotheby’s International Realty. This experience had a very positive impact on my life. Not only did I get to learn about a possible career path for my future but I also got to work on personal goals that will help me in the future. The goals that I found I got to work on the most were talking to clients and peers in a professional manner, along with some organizational habits. I really think this is a great opportunity for anyone looking into the real estate industry.

This summer I attended Burklyn Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive for four weeks. This was a great experience that gave me the opportunity to get in shape and even stronger before starting my first semester of college this fall, connect with an accomplished individual in the dance industry, and in many aspects, live the life of a professional dancer.  We worked six days a week, having three classes everyday consisting of ballet technique, pointe, variations, modern, or polities, then rehearsal (lasting anytime between 2:30-9:00 at night) for our weekly show taking place every Saturday. In the performances I performed in the “Parrot Dance”  from La Bayadére, Seguidilla from Don Quixote, and in an original ballet choreographed by Burklyn’s artistic director, Midnight Blue. I am very grateful for this experience; it has been tremendous help. 

For my brown grant this year I did a little something out of the ordinary and I was able to purchase camera equipment and fix my broken camera. A year in the past, I purchased a new camera and new equipment for a filmmaker's summer program through NYU. During this past winter, I broke my camera on a film set of mine. This broke my heart. After receiving a grant from the Stratton Foundation I was able to get my camera back from Sony. This grant did not buy me an experience, it gave me a lifetime of experiences. For every film, I have been nominated for I used my camera. I can’t express how grateful I am to have it. Since having my camera I have been nominated for 13 Gawlik Film awards in total. I have won 3, Music Video, 48-Hour Film, and The Gawlik Film Award (given to someone who embodies Brian Gawlik and his passion for filmmaking). Honestly, it was quite embarrassing to be crying on stage in front of 1,000 people trying to read a 1-minute acceptance speech that took me 5 minutes to get out. I felt like if 12-year-old me saw me up there on that stage she wouldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe that I am going to school in NYC for filmmaking like she always wanted.

Over the course of the fall semester, I was fortunate enough to complete the 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher Training program accredited through Yoga Alliance at our lovely local yoga studio, Heart of the Village. The program initially began in September and spanned through February. Within that time, Jo and Bob, our awesome instructors, planned many events for our yoga class to attend. One of these events included seeing Sean and the Wild Lotus Band live on Stratton at a Bhakti yoga festival. The connections I made with our community and other training yogis through this happened intrinsically, eventually making our studio and the people in it feel like a second home. The education was intensive; we learned about the cultural roots of yoga, were given an extensive list of reading materials, and held many discussions while also heavily focusing on asana practice and the physiology of yoga, which is most common in the West. I am extremely grateful for this program, the experiences it brought me, and everything leading up to this point, and will continue to share the practice of yoga at BBA and with the greater community. 

 Hello. My name is Tyler. I am a Sophomore at Burr and Burton Academy. This summer, I had the privilege to get to work at the ACCESS summer camp run by Mrs. Kate McAllister. The reason I chose to use my brown grant on the ACCESS camp is because being a special educator is definitely something I could see myself doing in the future. Becoming a special educator is something that the world needs, and not a job that a lot of people would consider doing. This summer, I really got a first hand experience of what it’s like to be a part of a Special Education Team. I got to work with kids on all ends of the spectrum.; But it wasn’t really work. It was so much fun to get to do activities with the campers and to help them with some work. I felt proud anytime I was able to help one of the campers achieve something that they thought they could not do. Every Tuesday Michelle came and we did Yoga with her. And then we did some work, and half of the campers went shopping. When they came back, the other half of the campers prepared lunch for everyone. They prepared the food, cooked it, and then cleaned up the kitchen just like a professional chef would do. Every Wednesday we would go on a field trip. One week we went to see Shrek the Musical. The next week we went on a hike at Merck Forest. The last week of camp for me, we went Bowling. It was a lot of fun getting to travel around with the campers and go out into the public and have fun. Thursday’s were my personal favorite. We started out the morning reading a story, and then we went to the rec park. The trips to the rec were my favorite. We would have lunch there, and then we would play basketball, or we would get a giant game of kickball going. The giant game of Kickball that we had going with like 17 people was AWESOME! All of the campers were in the game, and most of us counselors were too. It was definitely an experience I won’t forget. After being a part of the camp for 3 weeks this summer, it really opened my eyes and showed me that being a special educator does not mean just being the guy who sits there and does work with the students. It means having fun, and helping the student at the same time. After this experience, after being a NASA Engineer, becoming a special educator is definitely the 2nd line of work I would love to go into. Would I work at the camp again if given the opportunity? Oh yeah. It was amazing, and I am looking forward to next summer. Thanks a lot to everyone who made this summer possible.

My work at the Dorset Playhouse as a house management assistant and an usher has taught me about the intricacies and beauty of theater outside of the category of performance and acting. My main goal and passion is to become an actor as a career, specifically in the performing arts, and as an aspiring performer this opportunity taught me so much about how theater is a group effort and there is a massive picture outside of just the staged performance, and I am a significantly better performer because of the knowledge I gained. If you are looking to expand your knowledge on theater and find a community of empathetic, compassionate theater nerds, this is a wonderful opportunity.

Over the summer I went to the Governors Institute engineering camp at Norwich University.  I was learning and gaining more of an insight about what I’d want to pursue for a major in college as the week went on until the dreaded Covid hit.  Although it ended early I had a blast with the new friends I made and obtained useful knowledge for my future.

My name is Ariana Monegro and I’m a sophomore at BBA. This summer, I had my first Brown Grant internship with Centerpiece Cakes by Steph. I had a lot of fun this summer baking and experienced how an at-home baker balances her business and her home life. 

While learning under Steph; I learned how to make a whole bunch of cake flavors, how to prepare the cake/cupcake pans, how to use a piping bag and how to make different frostings, such as American ButterCream and Swiss Meringue. I was able to see the process of building a multilayered cake and was able to help set up cakes and cupcakes at events. In the beginning of this internship, I knew the basics and was able to somewhat follow a recipe but now I can easily make a batch of pretty good looking cupcakes with no worry. I will continue to use all the skills I learned for future birthdays, family reunions and maybe for my Quinceñera.

My name is Abby Muñoz Wells and I am a senior at BBA. This past summer I was given the opportunity to go to American University in Washington D.C. to explore the career of nursing. This trip was through the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC). NSLC gives students the opportunity to engage in hands-on realistic activities that are career based. For example, in addition to nursing, they have engineering, film, political science, forensics, etc. Throughout this 9-day experience, I went on excursions in the city, visited surrounding universities, used simulation labs, and explored different types of nursing. Some of the activities I did consist of suturing, dissecting, taking blood, giving shots, intubation, and becoming CPR certified. In addition to meeting people interested in the same things as I am, I learned a lot about what I want my future to look like and how I am going to get there. I discovered that I want to become either an ICU or scrub nurse and that I am not as interested in trauma or pediatrics as I thought I was. I gained an understanding of what my future career could look like and my passion for helping others and giving back was further intensified. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity and without receiving a Brown Grant, this wouldn’t have been possible. 

This summer I went on a trip to the Northern Cascades in Washington with Outward Bound. We spent two weeks in snowy mountain tops and sunny meadows. On my trip we learned wilderness safety including how to stop yourself falling down a mountain, what to do when encountering wildlife, how to provide shelter for yourself, and preparing food in the forest. There are many things I learned from my trip but one of the most important(in my opinion) was knowing how to be your truest self. This trip was very beneficial to myself and others because I now I have plenty more stories and lessons to tell to my peers and community. Thanks to my Brown grant, I was able to experience such an amazing place and people. I highly recommend taking advantage of such an opportunity and using it to explore your potential future.

In my cosmetology program we have worked on a multitude of different things. From perming ,hair cutting, dyeing , bleaching, highlighting, relaxing and more. I have learned that I am great at perming and highlights. The class for the most part is pretty laid back. We get told what we are doing for the night and go ahead and get started on our own. During this time I have made many new friends and have gotten extremely close with the class. The other part of the class is book work and studying for tests. We usually do games as well to help us all learn the material. When I graduate this program I’ll be able to take the boards and get my license.

I am Makayla Towne and I am a senior at BBA. I used my brown grant to get myself a new computer since I have an interest in programming and would like to major in computer science in college. Due to this, I would also like to practice my coding outside of school and would also need a computer in college to do so. This would be difficult though not owning a personal one to use outside of school hours. I didn't have the funds to get myself a computer, so I used a brown grant to ask for the financial aid to receive one. I am now able to practice my programming whenever I please and it has really helped me prepare myself for college. I am now one step closer to getting my dream job as a computer programmer.