Maine
University of Maine System sees success two years after launching Wabanaki history course
Two years after it was introduced, more than 1,000 people, including many teachers, have completed a University of Maine System course about the history of the Wabanaki Nations in Maine, system administrators announced Friday.
The program, launched in November 2022, allows students to learn about Wabanaki Nations history from the Ice Age through today and earn a digital credential demonstrating their understanding of the subject material.
Called the Dawnland credential, the certification was created by John Bear Mitchell, a lecturer and outreach and student development coordinator for the Wabanaki Center and UMaine system’s Native American waiver and educational program coordinator. A citizen of the Penobscot Nation, Mitchell created it to better prepare Maine’s educators to teach Wabanaki studies.
The state of Maine has required K-12 schools to teach Wabanaki studies for more than two decades. Sponsored by then-Rep. Donna Loring, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, the 2001 Wabanaki Studies Law mandated the subject but did not include funding or resources to support schools in its instruction. The Dawnland credential seeks to fill in some of those gaps.
“It’s great to see there is so much interest in this credential,” Mitchell said in a prepared statement. “My hope, for those who take it, is for them to teach about the tribes that lived on this land before and since Maine became a state from our perspective. To learn about us and to teach about us makes all of Maine a better place to live. By taking away misunderstandings and misrepresented ideology, we can create a true sense of place.”
Many Maine schools have benefited from the Dawnland credential, USM spokesperson Samantha Warren said in a statement. About 300 educators in the RSU 21 district serving Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport have earned the credential.
In addition, all teacher education students at the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Augusta earn the Dawnland credential before they begin their student teaching.
“Our System’s Dawnland credential equips educators with essential knowledge about the first people of this land we now call Maine and the ability to share with their students the history, culture and contributions of the citizens of the Wabanaki Nations,” said UMS Chancellor Dannel Malloy.
The online course takes about 10 hours to complete and costs $25.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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