Raising the BAR in High School Sports

by beth broderick, MYAN Senior Program Officer and high school lacrosse coach Coaching high school athletics has always been about relationships. As leaders, we celebrate the small and big efforts of our teams – especially when the outcome is more hard-learned lesson than success. We ... Read More

YLC 2021 – Workshop Descriptions and Agenda

The agenda is set and ready to share! MYAN's 2021 Virtual Youth Leadership Conference features over 20 interactive sessions and a vibrant keynote presentation, all created by and for young people. Workshop topics include: youth leadership & changemaking, racial justice, youth activism, ... Read More

2020 Success Stories from the Network

This year, the youth engagement network has done some incredible work. From Aroostook to York, Downeast to Western. The network has engaged young people in every public health district in Maine. To help tell some of the human stories of youth engagement work, we've collected some of the stories from ... Read More

What’s Next?

by Beth Broderick, with contributing authors April Lola and Sabrina Keene It is late Friday afternoon during the first week of November. In past years you would find me flat out exhausted, but inspired, from MYAN’s multi-day, youth-led statewide conference. Like ... Read More

Improving Mental Health Supports in Maine Schools

This Research, and its recommendations, was compiled by members of the MYAN Statewide Youth Policy Board  between 2018 and 2020. Current members at the time of publishing: Abi Pettengill; Charlie Eng; Elle McPhee; Lexi Usher; Tristan Seavey; and Will Fournier. We started this project in fall ... Read More

The Power of Play

The Power of Play How Tabletop Roleplaying Games Can Level-Up Youth Engagement by Gabe and Jay Introduction - Session 0  The quote, “Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning,” hangs outside of the Toy Hall of fame on the first floor of the Strong National Museum of Play in ... Read More

Facing the Fall: Student Survey Report

Facing the Fall Maine Student Perspectives on Returning to In-person Instruction and COVID-19 In July and August as schools and other educational programs considered and prepared their responses to operating during COVID-19, we wanted to include young people in those conversations. We circulated a ... Read More

Gardens, Resiliency, and Place

If you don't know where you're from, you'll have a hard time saying where you're going. – Wendell Berry Listen to Allyson's Interview with Aislinn Devlin: MYAN · Garden, Place, & Resilience   As physical distancing changes the shape of ... Read More

Young Adult Fiction You Should be Reading Right Now

by beth and Laura Lately we are hearing about a noticeable uptick in the sale of anti-racist books, particularly those by Black authors. As the MYAN team prepared to host anti-racism community calls with adults across Maine, we also drew in excerpts from many of the reputable authors whose works ... Read More