Youth Expedition to Ignite (Y.E.T.I.)

Youth Expedition to Ignite (YETI), is a non-school sponsored club that emphasizes the importance of spending time outdoors, “unplugging” from technology, and building relationships within the school. YETI has been known to take in students going through tough times and giving them a happy environment to interact with others. A small group usually consisting of anywhere from 20 - 50 students joins together every Monday night to play games, connect with peers, and share experiences. YETI aims to create an environment where students who share a love for the outdoors and adventuring, can come together and make friends and memories with those that they may not usually hang around in school.

YETI facilitators Travis Tierney, an English teacher here at MBHS, and former Mt. Blue teacher Karen Cyr, help to guide the students, or “Yetians” of the group. “YETI always has been and always will be led by students,” said Travis Tierney. “Karen and I are here in facilitating and mentoring roles.”

So what is YETI? What do they do? “Over twenty years ago several Mt. Blue Teachers, including Mr. Bolduc, Mr. Trefethen, and Mr. Bond believed that some alternative methods such as getting students outside might benefit at risk students. That morphed into an all inclusive group of students that share a love of the outdoors, adventure, and shared experiences,” said Tierney. The group joins every Monday night in the Cascade Brook cafetorium from 7- 8:30 where they play group bonding games and partake in meaningful discussions. Some meetings include hiking, snowshoeing, sledding, going for a walk, or playing games outdoors, but the two main trips are a winter camping trip and a summer paddling trip.The longer trips give students the opportunity to bond with each other in the outdoors.

Group member Julia Ramsey, Mt. Blue class of 2017, spoke about what makes her keep attending YETI: “I love that it’s so many different groups together, people that are usually cliquey in school, or you know in school you just break up into different groups and you just have different classes. You don’t see everyone, and then Monday nights, that’s the chance for everyone to come together and just be kinda like a family and just have a lot of fun together.”

She also mentioned how getting to know people through the outdoors is one of her favorite things about YETI. Tierney also shared the reasoning behind his devotion to the group. “It allows me to break down walls with students literally and figuratively. Shared experiences in the wilderness and outdoors have far exceeded the relationships and bonds I can have with students in the classroom. We both become more human to one another and that teacher/student dynamic gets left behind. It's more real.”

Math Team

 The Mt. Blue Math Team, named the Radicals, has just finished their first season of competitions as they established the group in the winter of 2016. Chelsea Arnold, a math teacher at Mt. Blue High School, is the overseer and founder of the team. Ms. Arnold was surprised Mt. Blue didn’t have a math team when she first started teaching at the high school, and when she finally had the time after completing her masters program at UMF, she decided to start one up. The team meets three times a week after school to prepare for the various math topics that students are tested on at each competition. One member of the team, Ethan Winters, became the second-place freshman in the entire state. Practices are relaxed where students say they have plenty of fun and snacks. The members feel no pressure to be prodigies in every single math subject because it is all patiently taught and learned at practices. The team is open to all high school students without any prerequisite math courses. They welcome and encourage any who are interested in refining their math skills to come to practices and join the group.

Blue Crew Robotics

It has been a quite a breakout year for Blue Crew Robotics, but the team is still looking toward the future. As a team of First Robotics Competition, or FRC, the Blue Crew did very well at all four events they competed in, the last of which being the World Championships.

The team came into existence at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, brought forth by a Mount Blue student’s own vision. Mitch, a senior, who had been a member of the local FIRST Lego League team, was introduced to FRC through other Maine teams such as SMART of Spruce Mountain and Infinite Loop of Messalonskee. During his senior year, Mitch decided that Mount Blue could use a robotics team of their own. “I met some kids from 2648 [of Messalonskee] over the summer, and they led me to a lot of resources that made starting a team easier,” said Mitch. However upon initially bringing the idea to Computer Technology teacher Richard Wilde, some concerns were raised about how the program would be funded. “I liked the idea,” Wilde remarked, “I just didn’t think we could afford it.” From there, Mitch drew up a comprehensive plan to fund the team and returned with it. Finally, Blue Crew Robotics became a reality, with Richard Wilde as the lead mentor, and Mitch as a captain.

Soon after, other members joined, such as Thomas, the now-junior-captain of the team. Thomas had also participated in Lego League, and was quick to join. “I’m glad that Mitch started the team,” Thomas stated. The team spent an intense six weeks cutting metal and soldering wires until their bot had to be “bagged and tagged”, signifying that no additional changes could be made until the competitions.

Originally, the team had planned to only go to two events their rookie year, but those plans changed. After unexpectedly taking home a District Winner and a “Rookie All-Star” banner from the first, and earning a high placing in the second along with a Judge’s Award, the decision was made to compete in another event, the New England Championships in Hartford, Connecticut. There the team had another excellent showing, placing as the highest seeded rookie and once again winning the Rookie All-Star, this time out of the entire New England District. With that, the team qualified for the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri. After some lengthy discussion, it was decided that going to Worlds as a Rookie team was an opportunity that shouldn’t be passed up on, and the decision was made to attend one more event. By hitching a ride with Messalonskee, the Blue Crew made it to St. Louis and had a successful performance.

After that wild ride, the team has had a chance to catch their breath and begin to plan for upcoming year. “I would really like to see it continue to grow and improve. We accomplished a great deal this year, but we still left some stuff on the table,” commented Wilde. “I would like to expand into an even better team. But it’s ultimately up to the students. If they come together as a strong team, then we’ll have a strong team.” Being a beginner team this past year, the Blue Crew still has some room for improvement. “While we did have some dedicated members this year, some other teams are much bigger, sometimes having upwards of thirty or forty members. We’re going to be looking to get more numbers for next year.”

During the offseason, the team is going to be hard at work fundraising, growing the team and training the members. To any prospective members that are interested by the idea of joining a robotics team, but afraid they might not have enough technical skill, Mitch offered some advice: “Students shouldn't worry about not having any technical skills or knowledge. Many of the kids I've talked to have said they don't know anything about robots. That's okay! Neither did any of us when we started. If you're a creative thinker and problem solver, there's a place for you on the Blue Crew, in building, brand marketing, programming, or even driving the robot.”