Press Releases

$25,000 grant will help bring middle school students and teachers to the park

Congressman Mike Michaud and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree today welcomed news that Acadia National Park will receive a $25,000 grant from the National Park Foundation to support an education program that brings middle school students and teachers to the park.

"Acadia National Park is not only a beautiful place to visit, but a wonderful place to learn. The park's Schoodic Education Adventure Program allows hundreds of middle school students to apply classroom concepts out in the natural world," said Michaud and Pingree. "This grant will help ensure that Maine students can continue taking advantage of this innovative program while exploring one of the places that makes our state so unique."

The SEA Program brings 600 middle school children and teachers to the Schoodic Education and Research Center, a National Park Service research learning center campus, for 3- and 4-day residential education programs.

The $25,000 grant is through the National Park Foundation's America's Best Idea Program, which is supported in part by L.L. Bean. Inspired by the Ken Burns documentary on our national parks, the grant program works to connect underserved populations with the country's parks. Chartered by Congress, the National Park Foundation is the official nonprofit charity of the park system.

Pingree is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, which oversees funding for the National Park Service.