The Source School
Through its partnership with The Source School, Cortico supported student-led conversations at Freeport and Mars Hill that strengthened trust and informed school change, while also seeding a broader youth-facilitated dialogue approach now extending to other Maine schools.
Hear voices from our 2025 Youth Listening Lab, a gathering of young people across Cortico youth projects, including students from Maine.
“There’s no going back now. We are listening, we are grateful, and we will take action.”
–school administrator
Since 2021, Cortico has partnered with The Source School to strengthen listening between students and school leadership in Maine high schools, beginning at Freeport High School and later expanding to Central Aroostook Jr.-Sr. High School in Mars Hill.
Challenge
Freeport: After May 2020, tensions at Freeport High escalated, including bullying, vandalism, and racism and discrimination. Many students, especially students of color, felt early administrative responses were not enough. The school needed a trusted way for students to speak openly and for leaders to hear what was really happening.
Mars Hill: Students at Central Aroostook Jr.-Sr. High expressed frustration about a lack of choice, voice, and engagement from teachers. The school wanted a clearer channel for student perspectives to inform decisions.
Solution
Both schools adopted Cortico’s youth-led conversation approach through The Source School, with students leading the process and controlling how insights would be shared.
Jennifer Chace, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Source School, said:
“The platform was designed to welcome honest, authentic sharing of experiences. But we realized that, given the breakdown in trust, the students needed to lead the process and control how the conversation data would be shared. My role was to help them lead it, not lead it for them.”
Process
At Freeport, student leaders co-created a Conversation Guide, then facilitated 11 recorded small-group conversations. Students used Cortico’s tools to surface themes and present findings to administrators.
At Mars Hill, nine seniors facilitated recorded conversations across grade levels, analyzed the results, and presented recommendations to the school board.
Students from both schools met at MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication in 2023, and Freeport students returned in 2024 to share feedback that influenced ongoing program evolution.
Results
At Freeport, the student-led process rebuilt trust and created a sustained feedback channel. The project has continued for three years and is now part of school life as a credit-bearing leadership experience. A school administrator reflected:
“There’s no going back now. We are listening, we are grateful, and we will take action.”
At Mars Hill, student findings led to concrete governance changes, including two student liaisons added to the school board and, in 2023–2024, a policy enabling student representation shaped with peer feedback.
Across both schools, this partnership established an ongoing, student-centered model for surfacing real experiences, strengthening trust, and turning youth insight into school-level action.
Since this pilot began, Cortico and The Source School have continued expanding youth-led conversation work across additional Maine schools through 2025 and beyond.
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