WABI reports on UMaine class on Swan’s Island

WABI (Channel 5) recently reported on University of Maine students who spent a week on Swan’s Island as part of a May Term travel-study course. The class “Maine Island Culture and Community Engagement” is a service learning class, where students volunteer part of each day at local organizations and businesses on Swan’s Island, located about six miles south of Mount Desert Island. The idea is for students to immerse themselves in a place with a distinct culture. Annette Nelligan, a lecturer in counselor education and one of two instructors for the course, told WABI that some students don’t think Maine’s culture is very diverse: “So we came up with the idea of introducing them to the different cultures that exist in Maine. For example, showing them that island culture is different from the culture in Aroostook County and the culture in Portland.” Fourteen students, both undergraduate and graduate, took the class this year, the second year it has been offered.