Williams-Mystic launched a new field seminar on the Maine coast this spring, examining climate change, governance, cultural heritage and sustainability through community engagement.
The week began in Augusta, where students visited the State House and met with Governor Janet Mills and other state leaders—including several Williams-Mystic alumni—who are shaping Maine’s climate policy and protecting its working waterfronts.
From there, the group traveled Down East to Machias and Sipayik to meet with sustainability experts, natural resource managers, fishermen and aquaculturists. At a sacred petroglyph site—deliberately left unmapped for its protection—students learned from a Passamaquoddy cultural preservation officer about the dual threat climate change poses to the tribe’s cultural continuity and the petroglyphs themselves.
Offshore on Hurricane Island, students lived off-grid while learning aquaculture research methods and examining sustainable systems and intertidal ecology. Other highlights included a boat excursion into Canadian waters near New Brunswick, a walking tour of Portland’s evolving waterfront led by WM alumni, discussions about the future of Vinalhaven and other coastal Maine islands, conversations with a sketch biologist blending art and science to document biodiversity, an oyster cruise on the Damariscotta River with more than 20 Williams-Mystic alumni and a springtime celebration in Portland with local alumni.
Throughout the journey, students gained a deeply place-based perspective by engaging directly with local leaders who shared how climate change is actively reshaping Maine’s coastal communities. We’ll be back in September, and look forward to new developments to the curriculum as this field seminar matures.
