Emily Siedel’s Forest Days Speech
Penobscot Community School Graduation Ceremony
June 9th, 2026

Thank you all for coming. As introduced, my name is Emily Siedel. I work for Blue Hill Heritage Trust as their Stewardship and Outreach Associate. I had the privilege of being the 7th and 8th grade classes’ Forest Days instructor this year.

I still remember our very first Forest Day. We started with a simple question: “What do you think of when you hear the word ‘forest’?” Many of you responded with words like “fun,” “calm,” “peaceful,” and “awesome.” Right then, I knew we were going to have a great year together.

Over the course of the school year, we covered a lot of ground and learned about some pretty amazing things. And we learned about A LOT! We began by getting to know one another and exploring phenology—the changing seasons and what happens in nature throughout the year. Next, we dove into forest ecology, studying lichens, learning about forest diversity through games, and identifying different tree species.

Later, we explored the world of furbearing animals in the Northeast by examining skulls and furs. In December, we visited Bluff Head Preserve and puzzled over the question: What makes a rock a rock? There, we learned about plate tectonics and glaciers. After winter break, we tested our knot-tying skills, breezed through compass navigation, and attempted to create fire using flint and steel. The following month, we slowed down and practiced mindfulness, taking time to reflect on our sense of place in the forest.

As the snow melted in March, we studied birds, their migrations, and the challenges they face along the way. In April, we created our own watersheds and learned how water moves through landscapes, how humans impact those systems, and how those changes affect stream life. Finally, we wrapped up the year with a wonderful trip to Wallamatogus Mountain, where we wandered through blueberry fields, admired the stunning views, and enjoyed each other’s company.

Whew! We really did learn a lot.

But Forest Days was about much more than the topics we studied. Throughout the year, we explored, grew, gained new experiences, and built a community with one another and with the natural world around us. We stripped pine trees of their needles for tea, giggled over who was team scat vs team tracks, filled journals with observations, learned silly dances, and shared our daily peaks and valleys. We celebrated successes, worked through challenges, and supported each other along the way.

One of the biggest themes we learned throughout the year was adaptation. For those who may have forgotten, an adaptation is a change that helps an organism survive and thrive in its environment. Adaptations can be physical, like a beaver’s powerful teeth that allow it to chew through trees, or behavioral, like penguins huddling together to stay warm. They can also be biological like how wood frogs coat themselves in antifreeze to survive the winter. But adaptation has another meaning, too. It is the human ability to adjust to new situations, overcome challenges, and grow through change.

Over the past year, I watched all of you demonstrate that kind of adaptation. You embraced new experiences, tackled unfamiliar concepts, endured cold fingers and muddy shoes, navigated confusing vocabulary words, lost resources while migrating, and occasionally got stuck in the mud. (We had one 7th grader who got stuck in the mud during our macroinvertebrates/watershed…)

And now, you stand on the edge of another big change: high school.

As you move forward, I encourage you to continue being adaptable. Be resilient like a tree standing strong through every season. Be willing to change and grow like the forest around you. Be enduring through life’s friction and weathering, like a glacial erratic that remains long after the glacier is gone. Be prepared for uncertainty and open to new experiences. Stay mindful of the beauty around you, even when life gets busy. Stay true to yourself and your own unique song, like a bird. And remember to look at the bigger picture, just as a drop of water is connected to an entire watershed.

Most importantly, remember that you do not have to face challenges alone. Just as every healthy forest depends on countless connections between plants, animals, fungi, water, and soil, we rely on our communities to help us grow. Lean on your family, your friends, your teachers, and each other. Community gives us strength, especially when life feels uncertain.

Before I finish, I would like to thank a few people.

Thank you to my coworker, Brooke MacDonald, for coordinating Forest Days and doing all the behind-the-scenes work that makes this program possible. Thank you to Michele Charette for trusting a stranger to lead your classroom into the woods and for welcoming me as part of your students’ learning experience. Thank you to Maya for helping keep all of us on track when things got a little rambunctious and for always bringing enthusiasm and curiosity to every lesson. Thank you to all the parents and guardians for making sure these students were prepared for every adventure and for dealing with the muddy, tick-covered clothes that came home afterward.

And finally, thank you to my students.

It has been an absolute joy getting to know you this year. You are bright, thoughtful, funny, capable, and kind. I am honored to have watched you learn, grow, and become more confident in yourselves. I am proud of the way you supported one another, respected different perspectives, stayed curious, faced challenges, and made space for everyone to be heard. As you prepare to begin high school, I hope you carry at least one lesson from Forest Days with you. More than anything, though, I hope you remember that you have a home and a community here in Penobscot and within these forests that have helped shape you.