Sundog will change things up this fall to get local middle school kids outdoors and active while being safe and socially responsible during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

“Sundog has spent the past several months consulting with medical experts, camps that successfully navigated the summer season, as well as national, state, and local resources.” said program manager Anne Aldridge Peacock,  in a news release. “We have also modeled our safety protocols on the efforts by the local school districts to keep our kids safe.”

Through the end of October, Sundog is offering week-long programs each focused on a specific outdoor skill and core value of resiliency. The programs will meet after-school Monday through Thursday with a day-long expedition on Saturday.

Partners Noah Kleiner of Equinox Guiding Service and Josh Lipkowitz, of MountainSea Expeditions, will be leading rock climbing and paddling programs respectively.

Sundog has a new program manager

Anne Aldridge-Peacock hails from Upstate New York where it was not uncommon for her mother to pack a lunch and send her out with some of her six brothers with the instruction to “go out and play and return when the dinner bell rings”.

This led to lots of ball-playing, bike-riding, berry picking, card games, capture the flag and skiing, skating and sledding.  

In the years between then and now, Anne studied history and was point guard for Yale’s basketball team; worked with homeless women in Chicago; counseled teens in DC; crewed on a small boat in Alaska acting as a naturalist; earned her master’s in education while teaching high school in Virginia; and settled in Oakland, California, where she taught health and wellness, including units on mindfulness and mental health.  

During her wife’s four year visiting professorship at Bowdoin, Anne’s three children were born and she fell in love with them and with Maine. Now, after ten years away, Anne is happy to return to Maine where she and her family are settling in Rockport at the base of a blueberry farm.

Anne is also happy to be working with SunDog to help get kids outside and playing, learning and gaining confidence through the competence that comes from new experiences, just as her mom did.   

About Sundog Outdoor Expeditions - Sundog is a local nonprofit educational organization dedicated to getting middle school kids outside after school and learning new skills all while building confidence, craftsmanship, integrity, and resilience. Each program session includes outdoor skills training, a community service project, and a culminating final expedition. Sundog programs are highly subsidized so that all can participate, and scholarships are also available. If you are inspired to help Sundog continue to run programs for our Midcoast Maine middle schoolers, your support would be very much appreciated. Please visit www.sundogoe.com or email info@sundogoe.com to learn more!