(Rural Maine has more trees than people. By a factor of ten. In the winter, the wind blows down from Canada for months at a time, while the coastal storms that spin out in the Gulf of Maine dump foot after foot of snow. You can ski into late May on several of the Maine mountains. On the other hand, at the height of summer, the heat, humidity, and black flies fill the empty valleys as if it was deep in the state of Georgia. Upstate Maine has moose, cougar, wildcat, deer, and very few people. As a result, the sophomores of Pittsfield High would profit from a semester spent there.

First, the PHS sophomores would find themselves far away from the civilization they know. No more Burger King for Lunch, no more Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. No doubt the students would find new fast food places to eat at, but they wouldnπt be in the usual pattern. Of more concern, they would be unlikely to get cell-phone reception. Texting and phones would lose their effectiveness. According to a Stanford study, rural Maine has only ten percent of the cell phone coverage that the rest of the country enjoys. (Stanford Cell-phone, NY Times, June 18, 2005) Hopefully, this would lead to less peer pressure and more note writing. Finally, students would find themselves beyond the reach of their usual drug and alcohol suppliers. As a result, many students with substance issues would come out of the woodwork. However, with alcohol gone from social lives, care would have to be brought so that social lives can still be active, free, and vibrant. Administrators would especially have to be aware of this as upper Maine is very cold and desolate.

Second, the PHS sophomores would be separated from their families. Doubtless, many of the students will find this to be a blessing. Mommys and Daddies wouldnπt be around to nag or provoke. According to Susan Faludi, in the New Yorker, parents are the number one cause of stress in youjng peoples lives (Parents are the Problem, Susan Faludi, New Yorker, April 5, 2007) Further, many students wouldnπt need to work in order to help defray some of the costs. However, these same parents couldnπt put any work on the refrigerator or offer a job well done ice cream sundae when good grades come in. As a result, students would have to have more self-reliance. They would look to their friends for the support their parents arenπt able to give them. More importantly, they would have to look within themselves.

Finally, the PHS sophomores would be plucked out of the greater Pittsfield community. Other people in their lives would have to remain behind. In some cases, this may mean that coaches and older teammates are left behind. In others, this may mean older boyfriends and drug dealers are also still in Pittsfield. 90 % of the drugs sold to Pittsfield teens come from people over 22 (Pittsfield Police Dept.) Without this complicated net of graduates and drop-outs around them, the students would have to look to their own transplanted community for friendships. As a result, perhaps sixteen year olds can remain sixteen a few months longer than they do here.

For everyone involved, a four month move to rural Maine would prove a hardship. Families would be disrupted, friendships would break, and jobs would be lost. However, at the end of this, the students that return would be stronger and more independent than they were when they left. These stronger people would make our whole community stronger as a result.

(In our world, it is hard to know who we really are. We are tethered to so many other people who demand to see so many different faces of us, we can never find time to see our own true face. Teachers, friends, adults, parents, brothers, sisters, and even strangers want us to be a certain way. Perhaps, the best way to help young people learn who they truly are is to strip most of these familiar faces away and leave us, if not alone, then at least amid fewer demanding faces. PHS should support this by sending the sophomore class to rural Maine for half of the year.)