Education and Kids
Portland is a great place to raise a family. The setting enables kids to experience the best of a city, suburban, and rural upbringing. Sara Corbett, a freelance writer for the New York Times Magazine and mother of three, says, “One of the things that I really like is that we’re raising our kids in a city environment so they’re exposed to all sorts of people doing different things. At the same time, we have access to phenomenal beaches. Even in the middle of winter we’ll take our kids down to the beaches. There’s a really nice balance, to be able to give them a little of all of that.”
For some ideas on kid-friendly activities and outings in the Portland area, check out the Portland, ME: 50 Things to Do With Kids Before They Grow Up list on the Alpha Mom blog. Still looking for things to do? Check out Uptake’s version of Family Things to Do in Portland, Maine.
Education for Kids
There are many public and private educational options in Portland.
Portland Public Schools is Maine’s largest and most diverse school district serving nearly 7,000 students from kindergarten through grade twelve. There are ten elementary schools, three middle schools, and four high schools, including King Middle School and Casco Bay High School, which both operate on an expeditionary learning model. This quick fact sheet on Portland Public Schools provides additional information about the district.
In the private school arena, the Waynflete School is an independent day school for students from early childhood through grade twelve. The Breakwater School, another independent day school, serves students from early childhood through grade eight, while the Friends School is an independent Quaker day school for children from preschool through grade eight. Cheverus High School is a Jesuit co-ed secondary school, and Catherine McAuley High School is an all-girls school run by the Sisters of Mercy.
For a comprehensive list of schools in Portland, peruse this list of public and private schools on Wikipedia.
Internships
For arts related internship candidates, contact the program administrator at the Maine Arts Commission, Alison Ferris, (207) 287-2710.
For general internship inquiries, contact Peter Precourt at the University of Maine at Augusta (207) 621-3511.
Maine Businesses for Sustainability also arranges internships with appropriate businesses.
For communications internship candidates, contact USM Communications Intern Organizer Russell Kivatisky, russellk@maine.edu.
For video production/editing, web production, graphic design, or animation and gaming internship candidates, contact Kate Sibole, Chair of Communications & New Media Studies program at SMCC, (207) 741-5768 or ksibole@smccme.edu.
Maine Campus Compact provides information on a variety of of sustainability internships, as well as other sustainability-related programs and opportunities.
Undergraduate and Graduate Programs
Maine College of Art (MECA) offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts, a Post-Baccalaureate in Art Education, as well as Continuing Studies for adults and kids, including a Pre-College intensive for high school students.
University of Southern Maine (USM) offers both undergraduate and graduate programs, with more than seventy areas of study.
Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) offers nearly forty areas of study including business, health, education, the arts, trades, and the natural and social sciences, as well as continuing education programs.
University of New England (UNE), with campuses in both Portland and Biddeford, offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs.
Maine Technology Institute (MTI) has seven Technology Centers across the state to provide business incubation and help nurture young, entrepreneurial companies in Maine, including the Target Technology Incubator at the University of Maine campus in Orono and the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, at the University of Southern Maine, in Portland.
Salt Institute for Documentary Studies offers intensive fifteen-week programs in documentary writing, radio, and photography for undergraduate and graduate students.
Adult and Continuing Education
Portland Adult Education offers academic, community life, and job skills courses.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is a national network of adult learning facilities with an outpost at the University of Southern Maine. The center offers classes, workshops, special interest groups, and extracurricular activities for adults and seniors.
Maine College of Art Continuing Studies has open-enrollment courses for adults and teens from Printmaking to Graphic Design to Interior Design.
The Language Exchange offers courses for adults in twelve languages, from Portuguese and Polish to Russian and Korean.
Explore the world through books at the beautiful, newly renovated Portland Public Library.
Sports and Recreation for Kids
Portland Department of Recreation sponsors a variety of classes, camps, and sports programs for kids and teens, listed in the Fall/Winter 2011 program guide.
The City of Portland website has a list of all the playgrounds in Portland, with links to further information.
Portland YMCA offers many different programs for kids year-round, summer camps in town and at Otter Pond, as well as childcare services.
Portland Porpoise Swim Club is a private swim team for kids elementary through high school age.
Portland Phoenix is Portland’s Premier Development League soccer team, offering a junior program and camps for all ages.
The Racket and Fitness Center offers tennis programs for kids ages six and up.
Portland Ice Arena has public skating hours from July through April and ice-skating lessons for ages four and up.
Sail Maine is a community sailing program with an educational focus, offering programs for youth, adults, and individuals with special needs.
Ripple Effect offers a variety of outdoor summer youth programs including multi-day kayaking trips and outdoor leadership seminars.
Portland Ballet offers ballet classes for youth and sponsors C.O.R.P.S., a program that enables Portland High School students to study performing arts alongside traditional academics.
Casco Bay Movers Dance Studio has classes for children and teens including Hip Hop, Modern, and Jazz.
Aikido of Maine offers Aikido instruction for children ages three through seventeen.
Portland Quest Center has martial arts and self-defense classes for children of all ages.
Cultural Resources for Kids
Children’s Museum & Theater of Maine has a full roster of events for the younger set, from story hours and science challenges to cultural cooking classes, as well as ongoing educational programs, and summer camps.
Portland Museum of Art hosts exhibits and special events for kids and families throughout the year, as well as summer Museum Art Camps.
Portland Conservatory of Music offers group and private lessons, as well as summer camps focusing on a variety of musical genres, from World Music to Jazz & Rock.
Appolon School of Music and Art offers group and private violin and cello lessons, a chamber orchestra program, as well as music theory classes.
Oak Street Studios, an art institute for young people, offers weekly classes for kids throughout the year, as well as summer camps.
Portland Pottery Studio has classes for kids and teens throughout the year and summer camps focusing on clay sculpture, metalsmithing, fiber arts, and a variety of other disciplines.
The Language Exchange has immersion Spanish classes for children ages four through fourteen, and instruction for teens and older learners in eleven other languages, ranging from Swedish to Portuguese.
The Telling Room is a non-profit community writing center for young writers ages six to eighteen, with after-school tutoring and open writing hours, writing workshops, a Super Famous Writers Series, and field trips.
Cultivating Community has programs and internship opportunities for young farmers and green thumbs, including a Youth Grower program, for ages fourteen to seventeen, which provides hands-on experience with all aspects of the growing cycle, from planting to distribution.
Other Resources
Access Maine’s database of local special education, learning disability, and mental health resources for parents and youth.
Math Affect is a private consultancy that uses “neuroscience based learning interventions” to help kids with math and other academic challenges on the full range of the educational spectrum. Contact Cristina Post at 207-233-2564.
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