Exchange effort grows into statewide venture

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What began in 2001 as a county-city exchange between Orono High School and Walton High School in the Bronx, N.Y., has became a life-changing event for a mother and her daughter.

For eight years, Connie Carter served as Orono’s service learning coordinator. Before that, she taught special education for 12 years.

Her daughter, Cami Carter, taught music for two years at Walton High School in the Bronx.

The two conceived the idea of an exchange visit between their respective schools, believing that offering a program to students of such different environments could help break down stereotypes.

The program proved to be so successful, it continues.

“Basically, both of us saw students coming back, or participating in these exchanges,” Connie Carter said recently. “Our goal was to break down stereotypes, learn about each other’s lives, and counteract all types of stereotypes. And it’s been doing exactly that.”

The Carters found that students who “lived in each other’s homes, and stayed in each other’s communities, soon became friends. They started calling each other and e-mailing each other.”

And it was true for the adults, as well.

“There became a point where I couldn’t keep up with the connections anymore,” Connie Carter said of the program, which took on a life of its own while she attempted to continue her school responsibilities.

“The other piece, for me, was that I saw the possibility of addressing a lot of social justice issues,” she said.

Additionally, she began to discuss the program with representatives of other schools who “wanted to have this opportunity.”

Thus Connie and Cami Carter left the teaching profession to form the nonprofit Operation Breaking Stereotypes Inc., which they incorporated last August.

OBS is currently working with a middle school in southern Maine and a middle school in Harlem, Carter said, “which will, hopefully, lead to an exchange.

“And we have another high school in the Bronx that is very interested in exchanging with a high school in Maine, but we haven’t found one yet.”

However, for such exchanges to succeed, a great deal of community cooperation is necessary, Carter said.

For the Orono exchanges, for example, Pat’s Pizza, Bear Brew Pub, Bell’s IGA, LaBree’s Bakers, Old Town Bowling Lanes and Bangor Photo all made donations “that contributed to the success of our time together,” Carter said.

The Church of Universal Fellowship offered assistance, as did the Orono United Methodist and St. Mary’s Catholic churches and interns from the University of Maine.

And, of course, a terrific number of parents and community members contributed “substantial time and energy towards a meaningful and fun-filled weekend,” she added.

Last, but not least, is the importance of the contributions made by the students, “to whom we owe all the success of this program,” Carter said.

She commends them for “their passion, their sense of social justice, and their desire to go beyond race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status to learn the importance of knowing each person’s story.”

For those considering such a program, Carter said taking this step “is as much a leap of faith for parents in The Bronx, or Harlem, to send their kids to Maine, as it is for us to send our kids there.

“We all think Maine is this safe, wonderful place, but what we’ve come to understand is, these parents are just as nervous as we are.

“They don’t know if their kids will be met by a black bear when they come off the bus,” she laughed. “Kids have actually asked that!”

If your community or school wants assistance in organizing such a program, OBS is there to answer your questions.

You can obtain information by writing OBS, P.O. Box 633, Orono 04473, or calling Connie Carter at 866-3187.

I’ll have more information about this new facility later, but the annual meeting and membership drive of the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum in Littleton begins with a public ham and turkey supper at 5 tonight at the Littleton School on Route 1.

Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children, and free for members. The event includes entertainment and a tour of the museum.

Dr. Moshe Myerowitz will help you with “Understanding the Babel on Those Food & Nutrition Labels” from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, at Myerowitz Chiropractic Center, 1570 Broadway in Bangor.

Space is limited to 35 seats. To reserve your space, call 947-3333 or (800) 649-2873.

You should bring a clipboard and pencil.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.