Erskine cereal box challenge nets 3,544 boxes for local food pantries

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The Erskine gym with 3,544 cereal boxes set up like dominos. (photo by Blais Photography)

Responding to a challenge issued by the Jobs for Maine Graduates (JMG) students of Cony High School, in Augusta, to their peers at Erskine Academy, in South China, the school exceeded the 1,000 box challenge, raising 3,544 boxes of cereal for its local food pantries.

Given only two weeks (one while the school was operating fully remote), Erskine’s goal of 1,334 boxes of cereal (one more than Cony High’s recorded total) was more than doubled. On Monday, April 5, cereal boxes were lined up to create a domino-effect spiral beginning at the headmaster’s desk, running through the school and to the gym. The live-streamed release event took over nine minutes from start to finish.

Immediately following the domino event, students and staff delivered the cereal to food pantries in China, Vassalboro, Chelsea, Whitefield, Jefferson, Windsor, and Palermo, the sending communities to Erskine Academy. The school then challenged two JMG program schools, Skowhegan Area HighSchool and Mt. View High School, in Thorndike, to keep the charitable momentum going with their cereal drives.

Though led by Erskine’s students and faculty, the campaign became a broader community event supported substantially by families, area middle schools, alumni, and many area businesses and organizations.

(photo by Blais Photography)

About this accomplishment, Headmaster Michael McQuarrie says, “The Cereal Box Challenge was for a great cause and was presented to us at a time when we need each other, especially when it comes to being nourished — body, heart, and spirit. We thank Cony High’s JMG students for inspiring the Erskine community with a little friendly competition, and through it, Erskine’s values of stewardship, leadership, and relationships were evident. The work ethic, inspiration, and idealism of our young people are humbling and heartening.”

Known for its philanthropic spirit, in 2016, Erskine was a WGME13/Fox23’s School Spirit Champion for having raised nearly 85,000 pounds of food for distribution by Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine. In 2018, Erskine repeated its efforts to win the School Spirit Tournament of Champions, raising a record 196,696 pounds of food. “We engaged with our rural Central Maine communities to provide a critical community service — fighting hunger in Maine,” said McQuarrie.

Erskine Academy is profoundly grateful to its friends for supporting this effort, including: BAC-40 Maple Products, B&B Septic Service, Chadwick’s Craft Spirits, Central Church, Oxley Express 3/31, PyroCity Maine, Roddy’s Redemption, Whitfield Lyons Club, JMG Corp, South China Hannaford, Tobey’s Market, and these area middle schools — Whitefield, Vassalboro, Palermo, Jefferson, and China.

Erskine Academy second trimester honor roll 2021

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(photo credit: Erskine Academy)

Grade 12

High honors: Abbygail Blair, Jane Blanchard, Christopher Bourdon, Nomi Bouwens, Samantha Box, Anthony Chessa, Ashley Clavette, Joleigh Crockett, Cody Devaney, Amelia Evans, Addison Gamage, Margaret Gamage, Avril Goodman, Avery Henningsen, Delaney Ireland, Sierra LaCroix, Haley Laird, Isabela Libby, Colby Lloyd, Emily Lowther, Chiara Mahoney, Jonathan Martinez, Michael Nicholas III, Ian Oliphant, Brian Ouellette Jr, Annaliese Patterson, Aiden Pettengill, Anna Pfleging, Sydni Plummer, Harry Rabideau, Kristin Ray, Aarick Staples, Joshua Tobey, Dylan Wing and Kelby Young.

Honors: Mara Adams, Brooke Allen, Philip Allen, Nicholas Barber, Rylee Bellemare, Everett Blair, Johnathan Blair, David Bourgoin, Trevor Brockway, Eleanor Brown, Ethan Cates, Joshua Cowing, Nolan Cowing, Jacob Devaney, Abigail Dumas, Patrick Hanley, Hailey Haskell, Paeshance-Rae Horan, Emma Hutchinson, Bryan Joslyn Jr, Keith Knowles, Kaylah Kronillis, Joanna Linscott, Hailey Mayo, Gavin Mills, Courtney Paine, Isabella Parlin, Elek Pelletier, Allison Roddy, Colby Rumpf, Acadia Senkbeil, Riley Sullivan and Samuel York.

Grade 11

High honors: Isaac Baker, Maylien Beermann, Jacob Bentley, Jack Blais, Autumn Boody, Lilian Bray, Emily Clark, Liberty Crockett, Colby Cunningham, Michele De Gugliemi, Isabella DeRose, Kaden Doughty, Emma Fortin, Josette Gilman, Samantha Golden, Larissa Haskell, Grace Hodgkin, Rachel Huntoon, Emma Jefferson, Grace Kelso, Tanner Klasson, Mallory Landry, Aidan Larrabee, Lili Lefebvre, Hunter Marr, David Martinez – Gosselin, Malcolm Martinez, Wes McGlew, Rebecca Morton, Adam Ochs, Devon Polley, Lilly Potter, Sarah Praul, Letizia Rasch, Paige Reed, Riley Reitchel, Parker Reynolds, Mackenzie Roderick, Abbey Searles, Andrew Shaw, Hannah Soule, Natalie Spearin, Hannah Strout – Gordon and Lily Vinci. Honors: Julia Barber, Alana Beggs, Evan Butler, Austin Campbellton, Abrial Chamberlain, Jesse Cowing, Blaze Cunningham, Luke Desmond, Alexander Drolet, Abigail Dutton, Chase Folsom, Wyatt French, Jenna Gallant, Ciera Hamar, Trace Harris, Isaac Hayden, Timothy Hinckley Jr, Krystal Ingersoll, Madelyne Koehling, Madison Lully, Isavel Lux Soc, Calvin Mason, Kaden McIntyre, Brady O’Connor, Abigail Peaslee, Julian Reight, Shawn Searles, Hugo Smith, Hannah Torrey, Summer Wasilowski and Samuel Worthley.

Grade 10

High honors: John Allen, Carson Appel, Abigail Beyor, Eve Boatright, Katherine Bourdon, Breckon Davidson, Nicole DeMerchant, Lillian Dorval, Loralei Gilley, Cooper Grondin, Elizabeth Hardy, Grady Hotham, Grace Hutchins, Beck Jorgensen, Kaiden Kelley, Meadow Laflamme, Dale Lapointe, Dinah Lemelin, Malachi Lowery, Lily Matthews, Brooklyn McCue, River Meader, Nabila Meity, Angelina Ochoa, Ethan Ouellette, Timber Parlin, Kayla Peaslee, Jonathan Peil, Gabriel Pelletier, Sophia Pilotte, Kaden Porter, Ingrid Ramberg, Alexis Rancourt, Cadence Rau, Samantha Reynolds, Sarah Robinson, Ally Rodrigue, Noah Rushing, Emmalee Sanborn, Daniel Stillman, Jacob Sullivan, Aidan Tirrell, Mackenzie Toner, Emma Tyler, Lauren Tyler and Damon Wilson.

Honors: Molly Anderson, Andrew Bentley, Angel Bonilla, Zane Boulet, Samuel Boynton, Nicholas Choate, Tianna Cunningham, Grace Ellis, Myra Evans, Hailey Farrar, Lilly Fredette, Alyssa Gagne, Brianna Gardner, Alivia Gower, Kassidy Hopper, Olivia Hutchinson, Acadia Kelley, Brady Kirkpatrick, Matthew Knowles, Emmet Lani-Caputo, Zephyr Lani-Caputo, Joseph Lemelin, Brenden Levesque, Gwen Lockhart, Gage Moody, Ezra Padgett, Maddison Paquet, Hannah Patterson, Michael Perez, Jenna Perkins, Casey Petty, Kathleen Pfleging, Karen Potter, Conner Rowe, Jarell Sandoval, Sophie Steeves, Emma Stred, Paige Sutter and Katherine Williams.

Grade 9

High honors: Isabella Boudreau, Heather Bourgoin, Robin Boynton, Elizabeth Brown, Kaleb Brown, Nolan Burgess, Eva Carlezon, Nathalia Carrasco, Elise Choate, Brielle Crommett, Noah Crummett, Gavin Cunningham, Hailey Estes, Ciara Fickett, Caleb Gay, Nathan Hall, Stephanie Kumnick, Carol Labbe, Sydney Laird, Logan Lanphier, Kiley Lee, Aidan Maguire, Richard Mahoney III, Alexia McDonald, Holden McKenney, Austin Nicholas, Jazel Nichols, Alejandro Ochoa, Jeremy Parker, Nathan Polley, Kinsey Stevens, Lara Stinchfield, Reese Sullivan and Baruch Wilson.

Honors: Abigail Adams, Austin Armstrong, Lyla Bailey, Trinity Brann, Wyatt Bray, Hayden Chase, Timothy Christiansen, Simon Clark, Connor Coull, Thomas Crawford, Keira Deschamps, Hunter Foard, Cole Fortin, Kaylee Fyfe, Brayden Garland, Leah Grant, Natalie Henderson, Hallee Huff, Kameron Kronillis, Mackenzie Kutniewski, Sophie Leclerc, Brody Loiko, Jack Lyons, David McCaig, Carlos Michaud, Abigail Miller, Royce Nelson, Alyssa Ouellette, Remy Pettengill, Keith Radonis, Giacomo Smith, Adam St. Onge, Ryan Tyler, Haley Webb and Brandon Wood.

STUDENT WRITERS: Why fewer people Are Getting Married

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The Town Line presents the STUDENT WRITERS PROGRAM
This week featuring: ERSKINE ACADEMY

by Grace Kelso (China)
Junior at Erskine Academy

Growing up, many Americans believed they would get a job, buy a house, get married and start a family. However, it seems that for many Americans, life did not turn out that way. The amount of marriages that happen every year in the US is at an all time low at two million a year. This is half a million less than its peak in the early 1980s. The marriage rate is also at a record low at a little more than 50 percent which peaked at 70 percent in 1967. This percentage is only likely to decrease. The Pew Research Center has estimated that by the time today’s young adults are 50, over 25 percent of them will have been single their entire lives.

Americans are also getting married later in life. The median age for first marriages reached a record high in 2018 with most men getting married at age 30 and women, 28. However, many people don’t want to get married at all. The Pew Research Center found that 14 percent of never-married adults say they don’t plan to marry at all, and another 27 percent aren’t sure whether they want to get married. There are many things that could have caused these trends, such as the change in gender roles and more gender equality, increasing financial instability, and the increasing benefits of staying single.

One explanation for why fewer people are getting married is the changing gender roles and more gender equality in today’s society. In the past, men were expected to be the ones to work and earn money to support their families. Women were not expected to work and instead take care of the home and children. This is not the case anymore. Having to take care of the home and raising children while still working full time is too much for some women, and most women are not willing to give up their career to become full time housewives. Also, women today are more educated than men and earn close to the same income. Women no longer have an incentive to marry for financial security because most women can financially support themselves. This change in gender roles and more gender equality in today’s society makes marriage seem like something of the past, which could explain the drop in marriage rates.

Another explanation could be the increasing financial instability among young adults. In 2017 the Pew Research Center found that 41 percent of single adults who wanted to get married in the future said that financial stability was a major reason why they had not married yet. Getting married and starting a family is a huge financial decision and many young people feel like they are not financially stable enough to make a life long commitment such as getting married. One reason for this financial instability is the record high amount of student loan debt in the U.S.. Americans collectively owe $1.7 trillion in student loans and the average college senior graduates with $37,691 in debt. Having this much debt at the beginning of adulthood has kept a lot of young people from getting married. Also, a study done by Cornell University found that most American women want to get married but many are unable to find “marriageable” men, which can be considered men with stable jobs and a good income. This increasing financial instability has made marriage less attractive or just out of reach for many young people, causing fewer people to get married.

Lastly, fewer people are getting married because of the increasing benefits of staying single. The Pew Research Center found that half of American adults believe society is just as well off if people have priorities other than marriage and children. Fewer and fewer people want to get married in order to pursue their own personal goals, whether it be in their career or hobbies. Also single people are actually more social. Sociologists, Natalia Sarkisian, of Boston College, and Naomi Gerstel, of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, found that marriage actually weakens other social ties. On average, single people provide more care for their siblings and aging parents, have more friends, and are more likely to offer help to neighbors and ask for it in return.

This huge drop in marriage rates has many causes, some of which are a change in gender roles and more gender equality, increasing financial instability, and the increasing benefits of staying single. Is this something we, as a society, should be worried about? Marriage has a lot of benefits, including better outcomes for children, less crime, an increase in longevity and generally happier lives. However, the way marriage is today is also very challenging and does not work for everyone. Perhaps in the future there will be other forms of partnerships that better fit the needs of our society without the negative side effects of marriage. There have already been suggestions of alternative forms of marriage such as “beta-marriages” where a couple is married only for a short period of time before making a commitment, almost like a “test run”. Our society is changing fast, so it only makes sense that the relationships we form with other people change as well.

Student Writer’s Program: What Is It?

The Town Line has many articles from local students under the heading of the “Student Writer’s Program.” While it may seem plainly evident why The Town Line would pursue this program with local schools and students, we think it’s worth the time to highlight the reasons why we enthusiastically support this endeavor.

Up front, the program is meant to offer students who have a love of writing a venue where they can be published and read in their community. We have specifically not provided topics for the students to write on or about, and we have left the editing largely up to their teachers. From our perspective this is a free form space provided to students.

From the perspective of the community, what is the benefit? When considering any piece that should or could be published, this is a question we often ask ourselves at The Town Line. The benefit is that we as community are given a glimpse into how our students see the world, what concerns them, and, maybe even possible solutions to our pressing problems. Our fundamental mission at the paper is to help us all better understand and appreciate our community, our state, and our nation through journalism and print.

We hope you will read these articles with as much interest and enjoyment as we do. The students are giving us a rare opportunity to hear them out, to peer into their world, and see how they are processing this world we, as adults, are giving them.

To include your high school, contact The Town Line, townline@townline.org.

PHOTO: Didn’t get the memo

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While not likely an Erskine Academy student, this guy(?) showed up on the school’s front lawn last week. Apparently, he didn’t get the memo that the snow sculpture contest at Winter Carnival was canceled this year. (photo by Bob Bennett)

Erskine Academy classes of 2010, 2011 and 2012

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(photo credit: Erskine Academy)

Erskine Academy has announced that the cumulative academic and health records for the classes of 2010, 2011 and 2012 will be destroyed beginning Monday, April 5, 2021.

Federal regulations – under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) – stipulate that rights to these records transfer to students upon turning 18. As such, records will only be released to students with appropriate identification (license, passport, etc.) or to parents of students who present both signed permission from their student and appropriate identification.

If you graduated in 2010, 2011 or 2012 and would like to have your cumulative and health records, please call the School Guidance Department at 445-2964 to make arrangements to pick up your record(s). Please note that the permanent high school transcript will be maintained in perpetuity.

Erskine Academy first trimester honor roll

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(photo credit: Erskine Academy)

Grade 12

High Honors: Brooke Allen, Philip Allen, Isabella Bishop, Abbygail Blair, Everett Blair, Jane Blanchard, Christopher Bourdon, Nomi Bouwens, Samantha Box, Trevor Brockway, Ethan Cates, Anthony Chessa, Ashley Clavette, Joleigh Crockett, Cody Devaney, Jacob Devaney, Amelia Evans, Addison Gamage, Margaret Gamage, Avril Goodman, Avery Henningsen, Nathan Howell, Emma Hutchinson, Delaney Ireland, Madyx Kennedy, Kaylah Kronillis, Sierra LaCroix, Isabela Libby, Colby Lloyd, Emily Lowther, Chiara Mahoney, Jonathan Martinez, Michael Nicholas III, Ian Oliphant, Brian Ouellette Jr, Olive Padgett, Courtney Paine, Annaliese Patterson, Aiden Pettengill, Anna Pfleging, Sydni Plummer, Harry Rabideau, Kristin Ray, Allison Roddy, Joshua Tobey, Mollie Wilson, and Dylan Wing.

Honors: Mara Adams, Nicholas Barber, Paris Bedsaul, Rylee Bellemare, Johnathan Blair, David Bourgoin, Hailey Brooks, Eleanor Brown, Zoe Butler, Joshua Cowing, Nolan Cowing, Abigail Dumas, Phillips Gidney, Hailey Haskell, Braydon Hinds, Paeshance-Rae Horan, Bryan Joslyn Jr, Keith Knowles, Marina Lavadinho, Logan Lee, Joanna Linscott, Eva Malcolm, Hailey Mayo, Isaiah Michaud, Gavin Mills, Daniel Page, Isabella Parlin, Hayden Rowe, Hailey Sanborn, Paul Slimm, Hunter St. Jarre, Aarick Staples, Riley Sullivan, Logan Tenney, Jackson Tirrell, and Samuel York.

Grade 11

High Honors: Isaac Baker, Julia Barber, Maylien Beermann, Jacob Bentley, Autumn Boody, Lilian Bray, Emily Clark, Liberty Crockett, Gugliemi De, Isabella DeRose, Kaden Doughty, Abigail Dutton, Emma Fortin, Josette Gilman, Samantha Golden, Grace Hodgkin, Emma Jefferson, Grace Kelso, Tanner Klasson, Mallory Landry, Aidan Larrabee, Shawn Libby, David Martinez-Gosselin, Calvin Mason, Abigail Peaslee, Devon Polley, Sarah Praul, Letizia Rasch, Paige Reed, Riley Reitchel, Parker Reynolds, Mackenzie Roderick, Abbey Searles, Andrew Shaw, Hannah Soule, Hannah Strout-Gordon, and Lily Vinci.

Honors: Elliott Atwood, Alana Beggs, Gabriella Berto-Blagdon, Jack Blais, Evan Butler, Jasmine Crommett, Colby Cunningham, Luke Desmond, Alexander Drolet, Chase Folsom, Wyatt French, Ciera Hamar, Trace Harris, Larissa Haskell, Isaac Hayden, Timothy Hinckley, Hannah Huff, Rachel Huntoon, Taidhgin Kimball, Lili Lefebvre, Madison Lully, Hunter Marr, Wes McGlew, Kaden McIntyre, Christian Moon, Rebecca Morton, Adam Ochs, Brady O’Connor, Kaden Plourde, Lilly Potter, Julian Reight, Ely Rideout, Kadince Rideout, Shawn Searles, Natalie Spearin, Lily Thompson, and Emily York.

Grade 10

High Honors: Carson Appel, Andrew Bentley, Abigail Beyor, Eve Boatright, Angel Bonilla, Katherine Bourdon, Breckon Davidson, Nicole DeMerchant, Lillian Dorval, MaKayla Gagnon, Loralei Gilley, Alivia Gower, Cooper Grondin, Elizabeth Hardy, Grady Hotham, Grace Hutchins, Olivia Hutchinson, Hallie Jackson, Beck Jorgensen, Kaiden Kelley, Meadow Laflamme, Dale Lapointe, Dinah Lemelin, Brenden Levesque, Malachi Lowery, Lily Matthews, River Meader, Nabila Meity, Angelina Ochoa, Timber Parlin, Kayla Peaslee, Jonathan Peil, Gabriel Pelletier, Casey Petty, Kathleen Pfleging, Sophia Pilotte, Kaden Porter, Ingrid Ramberg, Alexis Rancourt, Cadence Rau, Samantha Reynolds, Ally Rodrigue, Noah Rushing, Emmalee Sanborn, Aidan Tirrell, Mackenzie Toner, Emma Tyler, Lauren Tyler, Katherine Williams, and Damon Wilson.

Honors: Hailey Acedo-Worthing, John Allen, Molly Anderson, Zane Boulet, Samuel Boynton, Alexis Buotte, Emma Charest, Nicholas Choate, Courtney Cowing, Kayleen Crandall, Elijah Crockett II, Tianna Cunningham, Grace Ellis, Jacob Evans, Myra Evans, Hailey Farrar, Alyssa Gagne, Brianna Gardner, Reiana Gonzalez, Carson Grass, Ronald Haskell Jr, Kassidy Hopper, Acadia Kelley, Casey Kirkpatrick, Matthew Knowles, Emmet Lani-Caputo, Zephyr Lani-Caputo, Joseph Lemelin, Gwen Lockhart, Emily Majewski, Brady Mayberry, Brooklyn McCue, Gage Moody, Ethan Ouellette, Ezra Padgett, Maddison Paquet, Angelyn Paradis, Hannah Patterson, Michael Perez, Karen Potter, Sarah Robinson, Jarell Sandoval, Sophie Steeves, Daniel Stillman, Emma Stred, Jacob Sullivan, Paige Sutter, Hannah Toner, Colby Willey, and Joseph Wing.

Grade 9

High Honors: Abigail Adams, Isabella Boudreau, Robin Boynton, Elizabeth Brown, Kaleb Brown, Nolan Burgess, Eva Carlezon, Makayla Chabot, Elise Choate, Brielle Crommett, Noah Crummett, Hailey Estes, Ciara Fickett, Kaylee Fyfe, Caleb Gay, Nathan Hall, Tara Hanley, Stephanie Kumnick, Mackenzie Kutniewski, Sydney Laird, Kiley Lee, Aidan Maguire, Richard Mahoney III, Alexia McDonald, Holden McKenney, Austin Nicholas, Jazel Nichols, Jeremy Parker, Nathan Polley, Keith Radonis, Shae Rodrigue, Giacomo Smith, Kinsey Stevens, Lara Stinchfield, and Reese Sullivan.

Honors: Tristan Anderson, Austin Armstrong, Duncan Bailey, Lyla Bailey, Leah Bonner, Heather Bourgoin, Nathalia Carrasco, Timothy Christiansen, Simon Clark, Connor Coull, Thomas Crawford, Caleigh Crocker, Gavin Cunningham, Keira Deschamps, Hunter Foard, Cole Fortin, Brayden Garland, Aleigha Gooding, Bo Gray, Natalie Henderson, Bella Homstead, Hallee Huff, Kameron Kronillis, Carol Labbe, Logan Lanphier, Sophie Leclerc, Brody Loiko, Jack Lyons, David McCaig, Madison McCausland, Carlos Michaud, Cami Monroe, Royce Nelson, Hannah Oakes, Alejandro Ochoa, Alyssa Ouellette, Remy Pettengill, Evelyn Rousseau, Ryan Tyler, Baruch Wilson, and Brandon Wood.

STUDENT WRITERS: Negative Effects of Toxic Masculinity

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STUDENT WRITERS PROGRAM
This week featuring: ERSKINE ACADEMY

by Autumn Boody
(from Washington, Maine)

“The constellation of socially regressive [masculine] traits that serve to foster domination, the devaluation of women, homophobia, and wanton violence.” That is the definition of toxic masculinity used by Journal of School of Psychology, but it is noted that this definition can change due to the complexity of the issue. Toxic masculinity is a phenomenon that plagues our culture and society. Toxic masculinity is negative because it can lead to aggression, repressed emotions, and psychological trauma.

Aggression in males is not an unusual phenomenon. Men and boys of all ages can demonstrate different types of aggression including: physical aggression, verbal aggression, and sexual aggression. Toxic masculinity is a large contributing factor to this. Part of the stereotype of masculinity is being strong and unemotional. Trying to keep up with both of those can lead to bottling up your feelings and becoming aggressive.

Similar stereotypes are being dominant and assertive, which can easily lead to sexual aggression. When in a relationship, specifically heterosexual relationships, the male may feel that he cannot have emotions and that he has to be the dominant figure in the relationship. There are direct ties from this to sexual assault and harassment. Promundo, an organization that focuses a lot of their work on toxic masculinity, says, “Young men who believe in these toxic ideas of manhood most strongly were most likely to have ever perpetuated sexual harassment.” Some examples the young men said were, “Guys should act strong even when they’re scared or nervous,” and even said things like, “Real men would never say no to sex.” These extreme ideals have led to aggression in all forms, proving their toxicity.

One of the aforementioned stereotypes was suppressing one’s emotions. This has many side effects of its own. Not allowing yourself to feel and cry when necessary can lead to higher amounts of stress, larger depression rates in men, and substance abuse. While substance abuse is more visible, with about 9.4 percent of men over the age of 12 struggling with it, depression isn’t so easy to see. Men with depression are four times more likely to commit suicide. Along with the oppressive symptoms of depressions, suppressing your emotions can make it harder to deal with stress. When you never let out what you’re truly feeling it’s easy to let things bottle up. When you have all these things bottled up you implode much quicker.

The last of the effects of toxic masculinity is psychological trauma. The influence of toxic masculinity can not only come from society but also inside the home. Many men experience their first struggles with toxic masculinity from their parents or relatives. Fathers telling them to toughen up and not “act like a girl” or encouraging degrading words and ideals. This can be damaging to their mental health as they get older. They are faced with the conflicts of what they’re feeling and what they’re told to feel. As many studies and therapists will attest, it’s incredibly difficult to undo that damage that has been done. Once you’ve grown up with the pressure and toxicity it isn’t easy to reverse.

Toxic masculinity is a negative, oppressive phenomenon that not only affects men but also everyone around them. Toxic masculinity is negative because it can lead to aggression, repressed emotions, and psychological trauma.

Student Writer’s Program: What Is It?

The Town Line has many articles from local students under the heading of the “Student Writer’s Program.” While it may seem plainly evident why The Town Line would pursue this program with local schools and students, we think it’s worth the time to highlight the reasons why we enthusiastically support this endeavor.

Up front, the program is meant to offer students who have a love of writing a venue where they can be published and read in their community. We have specifically not provided topics for the students to write on or about, and we have left the editing largely up to their teachers. From our perspective this is a free form space provided to students.

From the perspective of the community, what is the benefit? When considering any piece that should or could be published, this is a question we often ask ourselves at The Town Line. The benefit is that we as community are given a glimpse into how our students see the world, what concerns them, and, maybe even possible solutions to our pressing problems. Our fundamental mission at the paper is to help us all better understand and appreciate our community, our state, and our nation through journalism and print.

We hope you will read these articles with as much interest and enjoyment as we do. The students are giving us a rare opportunity to hear them out, to peer into their world, and see how they are processing this world we, as adults, are giving them.

To include your high school, contact The Town Line, townline@townline.org.

Making spirits bright

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Contributed photo

In years past, Erskine Academy, in South China, has held an annual “Wish List Drive” for the Home for Little Wanderers, in Waterville. This year, because of their cohorts’ schedules and social distancing, the student council felt it would be best to make a monetary donation. Once again, the students and faculty proved that by many giving just a little, they are able to make a donation that will serve hundreds of children. Many thanks to all the students and staff members who donated to this event. Because of them, Erskine is “making spirits bright” in 2020.

STUDENT WRITERS – Examining “The Social Dilemma”: The real impact on young people

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STUDENT WRITERS PROGRAM
This week featuring: ERSKINE ACADEMY

by Olivia Bourque of Vassalboro, Maine
Erskine Academy Junior

It is truly paradoxical that a generation has been raised to be enthralled by inventions detrimental to their mental health and wellbeing. A Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, addresses the evolution of and dangers of social media, an enigma and issue growing exponentially along with the minds of young adults. Simply stated, exposure to harsh and unfiltered content on social media harms teens’ self esteem, while captivating them with unlimited information tailored to their wants and interests. Software smarter than anyone and worth millions of dollars generates a feed of suggested content to keep everyone mindlessly engrossed, though this software was never created to improve the mental state of the person behind the screen, but rather to make some people an enormous amounts of money.

An embellished version of this enchantment is demonstrated with a teenage boy, a standard social media app, and a fictional group of people controlling his suggested feed (replacing the job of designated software for this purpose). At the beginning of the documentary, this group of people keeping the teenage boy actively swiping seems innovative, although the boy’s family and friends blatantly express their concern and frustration with his obsession. Any parent of a child with a smartphone would likely wholeheartedly confirm this aggravation, as these apps truly are addicting. This is expected, however, especially with the knowledge that machines present users with content hand-selected for their amusement.

As the film continues, the people controlling the teenage boy’s suggested feed and notifications slowly come to the epiphany that their job is not in the best interest of the user whom they’re supposed to keep engaged. Though this was a satisfying ending, it is unrealistic, as these groups of people are actually machines, incapable of understanding human emotions, actually observing how its work affects their users, and finally does not have the power to discontinue their work. With this, society does not have anyone to rely on to contain this mass craze, and therefore we must come to this revelation on our own.

In a smaller part of The Social Dilemma, a teenage girl represents a massive demographic of those whose mental health and self esteem is at jeopardy; she is also spending far too much time scrolling through content tailored to her, and along the way she begins to compare herself to others, instilling unrealistic expectations for herself. Like this girl, many young adults question their worth once they see what the ideal woman or man should look like through a series of heavily edited pictures.

This can often lead to numerous mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Instead of taking away social media’s power to contort self-image, the girl responds to this insecurity by fixing her hair, makeup, and lighting, finding the perfect filter, and posting a picture of herself attempting to conform with current beauty standards.

This backfires on her when she receives mean comments online about her ears. From this, her self-esteem plummets, and she does everything in her power to cover her ears. Not only does this teenager unknowingly succumb to temptation of handpicked material online, but she also alters her emotional state as a result. This enforces the idea that a generation of self-destructive slaves to the internet are being created, and it’s almost unavoidable.

Student Writer’s Program: What Is It?

The Town Line has published the first in what we hope will be many articles from local students under the heading of the “Student Writer’s Program.” While it may seem plainly evident why The Town Line would pursue this program with local schools and students, we think it’s worth the time to highlight the reasons why we enthusiastically support this endeavor.

Up front, the program is meant to offer students who have a love of writing a venue where they can be published and read in their community. We have specifically not provided topics for the students to write on or about, and we have left the editing largely up to their teachers. From our perspective this is a free form space provided to students.

From the perspective of the community, what is the benefit? When considering any piece that should or could be published, this is a question we often ask ourselves at The Town Line. The benefit is that we as community are given a glimpse into how our students see the world, what concerns them, and, maybe even possible solutions to our pressing problems. Our fundamental mission at the paper is to help us all better understand and appreciate our community, our state, and our nation through journalism and print.

We hope you will read these articles with as much interest and enjoyment as we do. The students are giving us a rare opportunity to hear them out, to peer into their world, and see how they are processing this world we, as adults, are giving them.

To include your high school, contact The Town Line, townline@townline.org.

STUDENT WRITERS: So what? The real impact on young people

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STUDENT WRITERS PROGRAM
This week featuring: ERSKINE ACADEMY

by Hannah Soule, Vassalboro

We all have bad days. Maybe your cat got run over or maybe the jelly in your PB and J sandwich made the bread way too soggy for the desired taste of the sandwich, or maybe you’ve had your head in your screen all day. I find myself having days where I ponder life more than others, where I come up with incredibly insane situations that I would never be in, and then I find myself having days where it kills me to tear my eyes away from my screen for two seconds. Social media is a disease that is being spread upon the youth. Many teens are struggling to find motivation and purpose. Very engaging and authentic opening paragraph, with a clear thesis!

The day I was handed my iPhone was the day my life changed. I stopped being the carefree child that didn’t have a care in the world. I was consumed with dark thoughts. I now had voices in my head making me second guess if my picture was pretty enough, if someone would say something about my imperfections, and if I needed to lose a little extra weight because I didn’t look like the supermodels that would pop up in my ads. My care-free spirit suddenly started to care. That’s what’s happening to our youth. If you hand your child a smartphone, it’s not a matter of if they will become consumed with darkness, it’s the matter of when. Wow!

Growing up a girl, all eyes are now on you and how you mature. I personally hear it all the time, “ oh wow Hannah, it looks like you have lost weight.” or “ Hannah, you look so different”, as if they are looking for these things the second I arrive in their presence, but for a few minutes you have the gladdening thought of the comment. Social media, however, can take this comment too far; all of a sudden the need for compliments takes over and you find yourself googling how to lose weight or how to be prettier. No girl should have to go through the expectations that society puts out for us. All of this could be avoided if the unfair comparison between teenagers and supermodels stopped. 72% of all teens use Instagram daily. This data is scary because that is 72% of the youth being brainwashed everyday.

Sixty-nine percent of children have their own devices by the age of 12, which was a 41% increase from 2015. The problem keeps growing and won’t stop. Smartphones were introduced in 2007 and from 2010 to 2015 visits to doctors regarding depression jumped nearly 30%. Now, I know it is hard to believe that social media causes depression. It is not a direct cause, however, it is a major contribution.

Technology is killing kids’ sense of adventure and their creative wavelengths. Sure, you may think that your kid has it under control because they still get active. For example, they will walk your dog (yay, exercise) but soon enough the whole world knows that your little Susie took old sparky for a walk. Parents now observe children with their eyes gleaned (Glued?) to a screen instead of drawing a picture or playing with friends.

Social media is causing kids’ minds to alter completely. Thirty years ago the biggest worry in parents’ minds was if their kids were going to eat a worm at recess; today the biggest worry in a parents mind is if their child will be a victim of this darkness that consumes young teens. Social media causes so much hate and discontent that we can’t experience the joys of walking alone at night or leaving the house in the morning and making it back just in time for dinner. This is a problem that will become out of hand if we do not take action today.

Student Writer’s Program: What Is It?

The Town Line has published the first in what we hope will be many articles from local students under the heading of the “Student Writer’s Program.” While it may seem plainly evident why The Town Line would pursue this program with local schools and students, I think it’s worth the time to highlight the reasons why we enthusiastically support this endeavor.

Up front, the program is meant to offer students who have a love of writing a venue where they can be published and read in their community. We have specifically not provided topics for the students to write on or about, and we have left the editing largely up to their teachers. From our perspective this is a free form space provided to students.

From the perspective of the community, what is the benefit? When considering any piece that should or could be published, this is a question we often ask ourselves at The Town Line. The benefit is that we as community are given a glimpse into how our students see the world, what concerns them, and, maybe even possible solutions to our pressing problems. Our fundamental mission at the paper is to help us all better understand and appreciate our community, our state, and our nation through journalism and print.

We hope you will read these articles with as much interest and enjoyment as we do. The students are giving us a rare opportunity to hear them out, to peer into their world, and see how they are processing this world we, as adults, are giving them.

To include your high school, contact The Town Line, townline@townline.org.