Whoever thinks high schools are not a microcosm for the larger world needs to take a look around. We’ve got two perfect examples of just what kind of difference young people can make in their schools and the world around them right here in Maine.

From Back Cove to Tunisia
For the last several years the youth philanthropy group YOUTHINK has been giving out grants to students in Portland schools to change the community around them. That includes money for things like redecorating a school to make it more comfortable, creating a peer-literacy program for students from immigrant families and designing workshops to help teachers better understand the lives of homeless students.

As it turns out YOUTHINK’s one-of-a-kind approach could be a model for a similar project in Tunisia.
Slim Gomri, a teacher from the north African country, visited Portland this week to get a look at YOUTHINK first-hand. Gomri met with the student board that oversees YOUTHINK as well as some of the students who have received grants.

Gomri said he thinks young people in Tunisia are more than ready to participate in decisions about their schools and local government. More importantly, the perspective of young people has been overlooked for far too long, he said.

"Youth involvement is good for the youth and good for the community," Gomri said.

Gomri is visiting through a fellowship with the Academy for Education Development. YOUTHINK and seven similar projects around the country are the product of the academy’s Youth Innovation Fund.

Jessica Bynoe, director of the innovation fund, said the hope is to receive grant money from the U.S. State Department for a project that would see U.S. students – possible Portland students - act as trainers in creating a similar program for students in Tunisia.

MEANWHILE, in Skowhegan...
Students at Skowhegan Area High School are pushing the administration to do something about gang activity in the school. This comes after a week of protests from students, including a sit-in that got more than 30 students tossed out of school.

At issue is whether or not a group of students calling themselves the "Carnival Killers" are a gang, a threat or just an annoying nuisance. The principal has negotiated a summit for this morning between the leader of the Killers and the student group opposed to them.

Up to now the administration has seemed a little reluctant to believe that chaos is about to break out in the hallways, which has frustrated some students.

Now I’m no expert, and we can all be thankful this isn’t the full-blown gang violence you see in some schools around the country. But let’s ask the question, what’s the difference between a gang problem, bullying and the typical gauntlet of posturing, jokes and subtle harassment students face on a daily basis?

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