By Christopher P. Cobbett

One of the over arching goals of OHCHS is to encourage students to participate in post secondary education. Our district boosts an over 80% participation rate in some type of schooling after they leave here. Since Oxford hills is a comprehensive (trade classes and traditional academics) high school, we look to expose our students to colleges that offer associate trade degrees and others that offer 4 year professional degrees. This exposure fist takes place in the student’s sophomore year. The school offers field trips to several Maine colleges and universities. OHCHS is made up of 4 sophomore teams, each team gets a day to explore these schools as a group. They get a tour of the campus, review the classes and degrees offered, and sample the local dining hall (everyone’s favorite part of the trip).

Recently my team (and Max) were lucky enough to get to go on one such trip. We toured Central Maine Technical College and the University of Maine at Farmington.

First up was CMTC. According to Max “this type of college is great because it focuses on application and quality.” ” The students at the school seem very concerned with how their trade would benefit the environment.” “Also the cost is very reasonable and most students that want to go on in their education can afford this school. ”

I next asked if there were similiar schools in China and if so how did CMTC compare? Max said ” In my home town there is one. They are of the same level. I think the study and living conditions are very similar. The institution works very hard to make a great school so they can attract more and better students.” ” However in China the trade students and the academic students will go to the same school. The schools are thus larger, maybe housing up to 10,000 students.”

The bus moved on and up the road to the University of Maine at Farmington. Max commented to me that he liked that the school was larger and the students seemed very busy and excited. OHCHS traditionally sends many students each year to UMF. As a result , We did not have to look long to find several former students.

The last stop on the Maine college tour was the University of Maine at Orano. This the the largest school in the state’s University system. Max spent the day with OHCHS principal Ted Moccia. According to Mr. Moccia, Max was very impressed with the schools facilities and vast number of class and degree offerings.