ORONO – Seventeen Searsport District High School students, their principal and two teachers leaned heavily on Connie Carter as they made their way earlier this month from 42nd Street in Manhattan, through the maze of subways, to a street corner in Brooklyn.

Carter is definitely city-savvy, but with her light hair, fair complexion and sweet smile, she hardly looks the part.

But Carter and her one-person nonprofit organization, Operation Breaking Stereotypes, was integral to the success of an exchange program in which Searsport students visited a Brooklyn, N.Y., high school May 5-8 and Brooklyn students came to Searsport in February.

In 2000, Carter, who lives in Orono, was speaking by telephone with her daughter Cami who was teaching at a school in the Bronx. The two women were comparing notes on students in Maine and New York, and realized how much the teens had in common.

Carter coordinated an exchange between her daughter’s school, Walton High School, and Orono High School. Exchanges continued between Orono High School, Orono Middle School and middle school pupils attending the Church of Universal Fellowship in Orono, with schools in the Bronx, Harlem and Brooklyn.

Searsport, whose staff decided it wanted to find a “sister school,” began exploring its options last year. English teacher Jeff Shula had heard about Carter’s organization and invited her to speak to the staff.

And Carter, in a visit to New York to establish more contacts for her organization, came upon the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice and believed it would be a perfect match for Searsport. Both schools are relatively small, and staffs at both are committed to thinking outside the box as they work to reform education and to persuade students to aim higher in their educational pursuits, she said.

Coincidentally, SLJ Principal Elana Karopkin was vacationing in Maine last summer, and was able to meet with Searsport staff.

In addition to shattering racial stereotypes, the exchanges teach Maine students about social justice, equity in housing and employment, and a host of other serious public policy issues, all before they’ve reached voting age, Carter said.

Confronting those issues will inform their choices as citizens, she believes.

The next time Searsport students read or hear a news report about urban housing, employment, crime or race, they will not shrug it off as irrelevant. Rather, Carter believes, they will think, “Hey, I know a person who lives in that situation.”

In addition, Maine students learn how to cope with unfamiliar – and potentially terrifying – situations, which will help them when they leave home for college or work.

“There are some kids who take to the city like ducks to water,” said Carter, who may move to an urban area after graduation. Others may come to appreciate life in Maine more than they now do.

During the exchange earlier this month, a Searsport girl said she heard what her host believed were gunshots one night during their stay. As frightening as being a victim of crime was for Maine students and their parents, it’s a two-way street, Carter said.

During an exchange in Orono, she was called one night when the New York girl visiting Maine was upset, crying and calling her parents. The hosts were at a loss as to how to respond.

Carter said the girl was given her own bedroom and grew fearful at how dark and quiet the night outside the house was. The solution? The girl slept in the living room with lights and the TV on.