Blog

What do you want to be when you grow up?' is a question kids hear a lot and answering it can get harder as the school years tick by. This is the time of year when it becomes very real as high school seniors and young adults grapple with decisions about what they want to do next in their lives and how to pay for it. Many will go right on to a traditional four-year college, but increasingly, while some will take a gap year before college, others will seek technical training and head into the workforce with a credential of value. Learn about our new Compass Workforce Grant, and how it can support island students and young adults in pursuing workforce development and professional development skills.

Owen Casas, town administrator for South Thomaston, is dealing with a problem with no clear, historical guidance for a solution. The problem is sea level rise. Island Road in South Thomaston is a critical route to the working waterfront, used daily by 115 lobster workers and 150 residents. As the seas continue to rise, Island Road is starting to flood during high tide and the problem is only getting worse. The solution is community-based climate action, and the Island Institute is guiding the way.

What exactly is a transplanted partner, and what does it have to do with small business? We invented the term in response to the idea of a "trailing spouse," which is often used to describe a person who follows their partner to a new city or town because of a work assignment. This phenomenon frequently occurs in island communities—for example, when a schoolteacher moves to the island with their spouse.

Are you a Maine island student interested in going to a camp or educational program? Do you want to travel, meet new people, and experience something new? If so, the Geiger Scholarship for students may be for you! Not a student? Please share with island students you know! Middle school, high school, and post secondary students are eligible to apply, and annual deadlines are November 30 and February 28.

When I attend the Island Teachers’ Conference, I most look forward to the opportunity to connect with educators and administrators from up and down the coast. This year, with ample time between sessions and during meals to chat, I enjoyed conversing with teachers from Vinalhaven, Isle au Haut, Islesboro, and even some participating mainland schools. However, the highlight of the conference for me was the keynote address by Pender Makin, commissioner of the Maine Department of Education.

Teaching in island schools is so unlike teaching in larger mainland districts. That’s why the Island Institute’s Island Teachers Conference is so valuable—it offers a unique opportunity for island teachers to access relevant professional development and network with other island teachers. An impressive hallmark of this conference is the way in which its organizers are so responsive to feedback. There is a real eagerness on the part of the Island Institute to meet the changing needs of island teachers, and each year they tweak the conference in both large and small ways to provide the most meaningful and worthwhile event.

Last month we wrote in broad terms about managing the systems of your business. Specifically, we wanted you to track your time. As the management thinker Peter Drucker always stressed: “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.” In order to do that, we must know where we are spending that time now. There is no such thing as good time or bad time. Time is the only thing we can’t get more of, so we’d better use it wisely.

Raised in Auburn, Christina came to North Haven through her husband, who came there through his brother who came there through an islander. While building their home, Christina began to create small pieces of furniture out of salvageable wood. She describes this period as “building furniture as a carpenter would think, not as a woodworker would think.” She became interested in taking classes at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, and soon set upon the path from carpenter to woodworker.

Most small business owners are jugglers. How much can you keep in the air? How effective can you be if everything needs to come back to you? At some point and time, every business owner struggles with this mindset of “I need to do everything,” but this needs to change. Change is scary, but we hope that this next two-part series will help you think a bit beyond all the current priorities and emergencies you are facing.

The opioid crisis is ever-present along the coast of Maine, though it can be hard for many to see or pay attention to, especially during the busy summer season when our towns, peninsulas and islands teem with visitors. Not so for Dr. Jeanne Lambrew, Maine’s newly appointed Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) who, along with Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, recently spent a hot summer day touring the medical centers and elder care facilities on the islands of North Haven and Vinalhaven.