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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 17 J U LY 2 4 , 2 0 1 7 Colby chemistry professor Whitney King and his students are using the island's weather station to study climate change. And associate biology profes- sor Catherine Bevier and her students are using sensors to collect pilot data on various soundscapes, which include the biological, geophysical and anthropogenic sounds that emanate from the island like lobster boat motors, the wind, rain, and bird and frog vocalizations. " e data on frog vocal activity will be used in conjunction with other data sampled on the frog populations to assess their overall health," she says. "Vocal activity might be an indicator that a male frog is healthy (or not)." Broader uses include track- ing migrating birds as the seasons change. In the painting Walking to the museum and art gallery in the rain and mist after lunch, I felt as though I was walk- ing through a Wyeth painting with muted shades. I looked across the island dotted with perfect New England clapboard structures, past the grasses leaning in the wind, to the rocks by the shore. In the museum, a painting with unusually bright blue waters, "Half Tide," painted by Andrew Wyeth in 1938, caught my eye. In it, a lobsterman in a rowboat fi ghts choppy waters off a rocky island cliff . Like the scene on Allen Island outside, the painting evoked emotions more than words. I felt the life of that fi sherman without even knowing him. L V, Mainebiz senior writer / content specialist, can be reached at @ . and @LV MEMBER FDIC EQUAL HOUSING LENDER Got big plans? TALK TO A NEIGHBOR. 1-800-447-4559 | bathsavings.com Bath • Boothbay Harbor • Brunswick • Damariscotta • Falmouth • Freeport • Portland • South Portland • Yarmouth You have a vision to build something meaningful in the community, and we have the experience to help make it happen. Custom lending solutions are here for you — and so are we. Let's talk. Herring Gut offers science and life lessons S teven Darney, 14, a high school freshman from Thomaston and a student at Herring Gut Learning Center in Port Clyde, had trouble learning in a tradi- tional school environment. "I couldn't function in my regular classroom. I didn't know what to do," he says. Darcy isn't alone in his diffi culties with traditional learning environments. The school, a pet project of Phyllis Wyeth, has students from sixth to eighth grade. It teaches them experiential learning. Colby College also is sending staff, students and resources to the school to teach the younger students and learn for itself how the school has done so well in turning their lives around. "At fi rst they look down at their shoes, and then they end up giving graduation speeches," says Peter Harris, board chair of Herring Gut. "You need to fi nd kids in sixth grade or before," adds David Greene, president of Colby. He says, without a high school degree, people will earn only $25,000 a year versus $46,000 with a degree. "It's the difference between poverty and a middle income life." For Darney, the school has taught him how to focus now that he's ready to return to his regular school. And, he's picked up some business skills. He's one of the eight students in the "School of Roots," which uses aquaponics — using Nile tilapia fi sh waste to feed the plants, which in turn clean the water and return it to the fi sh — to grow vegetables like lettuce. The students also have raised-bed gardens outdoors growing carrots, squash and other vegetables. They sell it all at a local farmers market. Last year, Darney and his fellow students made $600 from their work. "We donated it to a local animal shelter to buy dog food and shovels," he says, beaming. Four other Herring Gut students worked on a kelp farm at the school, and sold out of the chocolate kelp and ginger kelp candy they made. Herring Gut Learning Center student Steven Darney, 14, shows the large lettuce grown on fl oats in the aquaponics lab. P H O T O / DAV I D C L O U G H

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