BRYANT POND — A new long-term youth mentoring program is available to Telstar Regional Middle/High School students at the University of Maine 4-H Camp and Learning Center on Lake Christopher.

Thanks to a grant from the Emanuel and Pauline A. Lerner Foundation, the program, dubbed the North Star Program, will provide community engagement, cultural awareness and adventure/leadership opportunities to Telstar students for the next six years.

On Tuesday, middle school students visited the 4-H camp to sample some of what North Star has to offer, with guests Cat Ingraham from Mahoosuc Heart and Soul, Dee Fournier, co-founder of the Valentine’s Day Project, Sasha Lennon of Food Corps, Jin Greene from Gould Academy in Bethel, and Anna Sysco of Anna’s Greenhouse and Gardens.

Students learned about other cultures when they made Lithuanian cheese, kimbop, a traditional Korean dish, and porgies, a Polish treat.

They also did some gardening and made cards for the Valentine’s Day Project, which hands out cards to those without homes on Valentine’s Day.

The program will continue, with 12 students currently enrolled and a new group of seventh-graders being added each year. The groups will participate in the program until their high school graduation.

Three informational meetings are planned, dates to be announced, for the school year to educate parents and students about the program and the application process.

FMI: 207-890-8625 or email lyndsey.smith@maine.edu.

emarquis@sunmediagroup.net

Students Travis Kneeland and Keaton Spiller of Telstar Middle School in Bethel made porgies, a Polish dish, with Anna Sysco from Ann’s Greenhouse and Gardens on Tuesday at the University of Maine 4-H Camp and Learning Center in Bryant Pond. (Lyndsey Smith Photo)

Student ?Autumn Thompson of Telstar Middle School in Bethel makes a card for the Valentine’s Day Project, founded by Dee Fournier and Willow Ochtera, on Tuesday at the University of Maine 4-H Camp and Learning Center in Bryant Pond. (Lyndsey Smith Photo)