Though Longfellow School has been privileged with a Facebook group in its honor entitled "I hate the perpetual recess school," waking Bowdoin students up in the wee hours of the afternoon is not the school's only connection to the College.
Every semester, Bowdoin students volunteer at Longfellow and other schools in Brunswick as part of community service programs and courses.
Although students volunteer in school districts from Topsham to Portland, there is a particularly strong element of participation in Brunswick. Many of these Bowdoin students participate in a variety of mentoring and tutoring programs run out of the Community Service Resource Center (CSRC).
One such program is Bear Buddies. Every weekend, Bowdoin students spend an afternoon with children who have various physical and mental disabilities. The program has been running for several years and has almost 30 volunteers.
Meredith Segal '08 has participated in Bear Buddies for two years.
"The program offers children the opportunity to participate in a wide range of activities that might not otherwise be open to them," she said. "During the hour and a half a week of Bear Buddies, all of the children in the program are just normal kids. Regardless of the disabilities that the children have, the Bowdoin students relate to them exactly as they would to younger siblings or children without special needs."
Another popular mentoring program is Lunch Buddies. Organized through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bath/Brunswick, Bowdoin students are matched with students from Longfellow, Coffin, and Woodside Elementary school in Topsham, and have lunch with them on a weekly basis.
Jonah Popp '06 noted that while it can be challenging to deal with a nine-year-old's attention span, he believes that Lunch Buddies provides kids with many benefits.
"They get attention and a dependable friend, think about college and their future, have some fun, and develop social skills," he said.
There is also a mentoring program for "at risk" students at Brunswick Junior High (BJH). There is not currently a mentoring program at Brunswick High School (BHS), but BHS Community Service Coordinator Rick Wilson hopes to see one soon.
"It's something that I'd like to increase," he said. "The future of collaborations between the high school and the College are definitely rich with potential."
Many Bowdoin students also participate in tutoring programs run through the CSRC. One such program is Book Buddies. The program was initiated by Julia O'Brien-Merrill, an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at the Coffin School, when she recognized a need in her students and called upon the College for help. Over a dozen Bowdoin students are paired with an English Language Learner and read with them weekly.
"I teach English to students who have another language in their background." I began to think about how wonderful it would be to connect these students with a native speaker of their language with Bowdoin students who were right around the corner."
"The primary goal of the program is to have the students share the joy of reading," she added.
Another major tutoring program is America Reads and Counts. Bowdoin has been participating in the federally funded work-study program since 1998. Tutors spend four to eight hours a week tutoring in schools and receive payment for their work. America Reads tutors focus on literacy skills; America Counts tutors focus on math skills. In Brunswick, there are tutors placed in Coffin, Hawthorne, and BJH.
Susan Dorn, the director of the CSRC, sees the America Reads and Counts program as "a win-win solution." Students get to do their work study while giving something back to the community at the same time.
Catrina Cartagena '07, who has been tutoring with the program for two years, agreed.
"I love tutoring Brunswick students. It's great getting to know the students, you really feel like you see a different side of Brunswick and are making a strong connection to the community," she said. "Plus, the students and teachers, at least in my experience, are so appreciative of your work, so you really feel as though you are giving back to the community."
Dorn sees the relationship between Bowdoin and the Brunswick public schools as a result of these programs as a positive one.
"Teachers and principals say, whatever it takes to get Bowdoin students to our schools, we will do it," she said.
Some issues do arise with scheduling differences. The Brunswick school schedule includes breaks in February and April, while Bowdoin students have breaks for much of January and March, and leave in May before Brunswick schools end the school year.
Rose Kent '06, a volunteer and student teacher, highlighted the difficulty.
"It's hard to maintain continuity," she noted. "It's hard to build relationships with individual kids if you're not there on a very regular basis, and those individual relationships are what make the experience the most rewarding."
Another way that Bowdoin students participate is through courses offered in the Department of Education. Several courses require students to spend time observing and participating in the public schools.
Students in Contemporary American Education (Education 101) are required to observe half a day in a local school. In Educating All Children (Education 203), students observe and participate as they spend 24 hours in a nearby school.
Ian Yaffe '09, a student in Educating All Children, said, "I am working with the kids in some way or another the entire time. It helps some kids get more individual attention."
The Department of Education also helps Bowdoin students obtain spots student teaching at BHS. There, they spend five days a week and follow the local school schedule.
Kent, who is student teaching in biology classes at BHS, said, "I think that my students really benefit from seeing a younger person who is excited about their subject area and who wants to teach and is choosing to teach."
In past years, environmental studies and anthropology courses have also been involved in teaching and observing at local schools.
Claudia Searles, a third-grade teacher at Longfellow, said she welcomes Bowdoin students into her classroom.
"They stimulate my creativity as a teacher with their questions and ideas," she said. "They help my children get more attention and feel special. They keep our class working for the best. They add ideas to our lessons. They model good learning. They inspire us. Their interaction makes our classroom richer, and we feel much more connected to the whole Bowdoin community through them."
Assistant Professor of Education Doris Santoro Gomez noted, "Field experiences are often cited by students as one of the most significant occasions for learning."
In some cases, these opportunities have lasting effects on the volunteer.
Eileen Hunt '93 volunteered at the Coffin School during her time at Bowdoin. The three years she spent working with students there inspired her love for teaching. She is now a professor of political science at Notre Dame.
"It was a really nice experience, my fondest memory of college. It really helped me a lot," she said.
Not all of the connections between Bowdoin and the Brunswick schools are through official programs. Some BHS students audit courses at Bowdoin. Quinby House recently had a fundraiser, the proceeds of which went to promoting art in local elementary schools. Dean of Student Affairs Craig Bradley teaches a French class at Longfellow once a week with Stephen Carlson '07.
Professor of Government Allen Springer, who is on leave this semester, was a member of the Brunswick School Board for six years.
"I think there was a genuine sense that they appreciated the fact that someone from the College was willing to play a role and take on responsibility," he said. "The more links between Bowdoin faculty and their kids and students and the community as a whole, the better."
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Nancy Jennings sees the relationship as something that can be very beneficial to the town and to Bowdoin students.
"They get interested, smart, capable people to be involved in their projects," she said. "It's great to have someone that's eager and committed to come volunteer."
She also sees it as a potential learning experience for the volunteers.
"I think they have a lot of perspectives that Bowdoin students can gain from," Jennings noted.
She said she hopes the College and the Brunswick schools have a reciprocal relationship.
"I would hate it if Bowdoin students went in as if they have all the answers, as opposed to having a mutual learning experience," she said.
Dorn agreed, adding that she sees the relationship as a partnership, with neither side overpowering the other.
"The College is a great resource for the community," she added. "The strengths are obvious: Bowdoin students have talents; Bowdoin students are role models. I think at the end of the day, kids just love Bowdoin students."
Director of Student Activities and the Smith Union Allen Delong challenged students to take their experiences in the Brunswick schools and community one step further.
"Ask yourself: what are the goals of my work? What is my follow-up?" he said. "What is my commitment?"