The Maine West coalition, which the Center manages, is supporting innovation in education in western Maine.

The coalition is helping to pay for a new Maine West Education Director to work with schools across the region to build resilience, develop community-connected curricula, and raise educational aspirations and attainment. 

The Bryant Pond 4-H Center in Woodstock, Maine, has hired Beth Clarke to fill the role. Beth has more than 20 years’ experience as an educational leader in Western Maine public schools. She is a leader in the effort to integrate nature-based learning into public education. In 2021, as principal of the elementary cchool in West Paris, Beth and her team earned a $250,000 award from the Department of Education’s Rethinking Responsive Educational Ventures (RREV) program.  

“We hope this new position will open up opportunities for schools and student learning in the Maine West region,” said Mike Wilson, senior program director for the Center. “There are already pockets of innovation across the area where schools are engaging students with the outdoors and working to align learning with local economic and community opportunity. Beth’s experience and networks make her ideally suited to strengthen connections among schools, and between schools and communities, to raise student aspirations and attainment across the Maine West region.”