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LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Springtime in Maine means mud season. And as messy as it is, mud season is always exciting for its promises of regrowth and possibility. At Kieve Wavus Education, the ice on Damariscotta Lake melted by April (a phenomenon called “ice-out” in Maine), our campuses were buzzing with The Leadership School students again by Patriots’ Day (another New England springtime quirk), and final prep for summer camp is now well underway.
In last spring’s edition of this letter, I wrote to you about imagining a future in which we share more of KWE’s magic with new families and communities from near and far. This year, I’m proud to highlight some progress on that front. As we strive to make KWE programs more accessible, this year we’ve provided more financial support to summer camp families
than ever before.
This summer will also be the first we’ve partnered with A Thousand Summers, a Denver-based nonprofit with a mission to remove barriers — financial, socioeconomic and geographic — to wilderness tripping summer camps. We can’t wait to welcome our first eight campers from A Thousand Summers in June.
We’re also deepening our relationships with schools and community leaders from across the country who introduce Kieve and Wavus to kids who might not otherwise find their way to summer camp and who would thrive there. Our network is proactively recruiting amazing campers who choose Kieve or Wavus because of our community’s encouragement and trust. Thank you for helping us grow this camp family!
During the school year, The Leadership School’s pilot Teacher Certification Program has created a new pathway to help our educators become credentialed teachers in Maine. This innovative program aims to address significant teacher shortages across the state, ensuring local students benefit from KWE’s dynamic, dedicated educators for generations. And knowing The Leadership School is well-positioned to make its greatest impact locally, we’re focusing on expanding access for Maine’s rural, under-served, and most diverse school communities in 2023–24.
Later in this newsletter, you’ll read about how we opened our Kieve campus in March and April to host Boothbay’s 7th and 8th graders while their school navigated some unexpected construction. Our amazing staff jumped into action to help our
neighboring district, all while providing hundreds of meals every month to local pantries fighting against food insecurity. Both of these efforts began spontaneously in response to urgent needs in our Lincoln County home — a reminder that KWE’s magic stretches beyond our transformative experiential programming.
All of these initiatives are the product of the collective care, commitment, and generosity of you, our beloved KWE community. Thank you for all you do to spread enthusiasm, ingenuity, and grit to the next generation.
Gratefully,
Sam Kennedy
Executive Director