Perhaps the most memorable aspect of any student’s Maine Coast Semester experience is the small, intimate community. Learning to live and work together, to communicate honestly, to be sensitive and generous in spirit, and to take personal responsibility for the people and the place is immensely rewarding.
But it is never easy. For many students, MCS becomes most powerful when they set aside expectations of utopia to encounter real people and real problems. Over time, we begin to see the parallels and connections between our small community and the larger, more complex world of which we are all a part.
While much of the living is playful—a weekend “coffee house,” cooking a Sunday brunch, a sledding party, a pick-up soccer game—much is also hard work. As a community, we need to wrestle with tough questions. How do we hold a student accountable for a sloppy job on a morning chore? How do we react to failure of our expectations? How can we be more supportive of a student who has received upsetting news from home? Along the way, we make lifelong friendships, form strong values, and develop a broader view of the world.
