Brunswick High students launch environmental youth leadership program
Twelve Brunswick High students spent the school year in public works, trail sites and Zooms, learning how climate choices shape town decisions.
A Brunswick High student-led pilot put 12 teens inside the working parts of local conservation, from Brunswick Public Works to research talks with scientists, giving them a look at how environmental decisions shape roads, waterways and town operations. The Environmental Youth Leadership Program, launched by the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, was built to move students beyond classroom concern and into hands-on leadership.
The first cohort included Brunswick High students in grades 10 through 12 and met once a month on early-release days for field trips, with evening Zoom sessions adding scientists and other experts. The pilot ran from January through early June 2026 and ended with a year-one celebration June 9 at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick.
Avery Peterson, a Brunswick High junior, helped spark the effort after looking for more ways to learn about environmental solutions rather than just environmental problems. Peterson worked with the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust through a connection to her mother, Sarah Rodgers, the nonprofit’s education and school partnerships program manager. The land trust said the teen program was meant to go deeper than its established work in Brunswick elementary schools by giving older students a chance to dive deeper into local issues.
One field trip took students to Brunswick Public Works to study road salt and its effect on local waterways, along with the steps town workers take to reduce that impact. Another discussion focused on Maine’s Big Night, the first warm rain after spring thaw, when amphibians migrate to vernal pools and often cross roads. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says Maine is home to at least 34 species of nonmarine reptiles and amphibians, a reminder of how closely road maintenance, drainage and habitat protection are tied together.
The program also fits into a town already organizing around climate and sustainability. Brunswick Town Council unanimously adopted the town’s Climate Action Plan on Dec. 16, 2024, after a two-year process, and the Brunswick Sustainability Committee is charged with promoting public education and action on climate mitigation, waste reduction, recycling and sustainable living. For the land trust, which serves Brunswick, Topsham and Bowdoin, the youth program extends a mission that already includes conservation, stewardship and public access.
Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust says it has conserved about 3,300 acres of local land and maintains 13 public trail systems on owned and easement properties. In a region where conservation, municipal services and outdoor recreation overlap, the program points to a practical pipeline: students who learn how local systems work today may become the volunteers, advocates, land stewards and public employees shaping them next.
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