MSAD 15 ExCEL students and teacher Laura Fralich support their local community through trail work.

As students at MSAD 15’s Gray-New Gloucester High School settle into their seats for English class, a calm, authentic energy fills the room. Laura Fralich, Expanding Choices for Each Learner (ExCEL) Alternative Education teacher, prepares to begin, having arranged her classroom so that the desks form a circle, and everyone can see one another. She starts each class by asking students a reflective question, intending to build relationships and community, which is the foundation of ExCEL.

This is Fralich’s’s sixth year leading ExCEL within MSAD 15 at Gray-New Gloucester High School. ExCEL is an alternative education program that serves up to 24 students in grades 10-12. It is designed for students whose academic success is strengthened through interdisciplinary and experiential learning in a small, student-centered environment.

Learning Through Experience

In a typical school year, ExCEL has two teachers, but this school year, Fralich has been teaching on her own. Fralich’s students have individualized schedules; some students complete all of their classes in the ExCEL program, while many blend their ExCEL classes with mainstream classes at Gray-New Gloucester High School or at the region’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program in Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS) where students explore and earn certifications in a variety of career pathways. All ExCEL students in the work toward a Gray-New Gloucester High School diploma. Courses are held to the same academic standards as traditional classes, and students must earn the same credits required of their peers.

Fralich’s teaching approach emphasizes hands-on, community-connected learning that is woven throughout the curriculum. She continually ensures that her courses remain rigorous while meeting the diverse needs of her students.

“Instead of teaching five sections of the same course to 100 students, I have 24 students that I get to know over the course of several years,:” Fralich explained. “This allows me to build relationships while creating a curriculum that supports my students’ abilities to access education in a meaningful way.”

Several community partnerships have helped shape the ExCEL curriculum. Funding from Planson International in New Gloucester, and local community members helped establish a greenhouse at the school, which anchors experiential science instruction. Students plant seedlings, design vertical growing systems, experiment with plant-based tie-dying, maintain worm compost systems, and host an annual plant sale. These projects integrate science with sustainability, entrepreneurship, and teamwork.

MSAD 15 students and teachers help to maintain and support the ExCEL greenhouse.

Community connections further enrich student learning. During a recent interdisciplinary study of Black history in Maine, ExCEL students visited Malaga Island and a cemetery at Pineland Farms where residents are buried. Students are currently learning about Indigenous history and will explore Indigenous art at the Portland Museum of Art and attend a Wabanaki storytelling performance at Merrill Auditorium. These experiences deepen students’ understanding through place-based engagement.

MSAD 15 ExCEL students took a trip to Malaga Island.

The arts are also integrated across subjects. In a current poetry unit, ExCEL students are reading and writing original poems and then sewing their work into lap quilts. Students are blending literacy, creativity, and craftsmanship into a meaningful final product.

Connecting Learning to Community

Service learning is embedded in the weekly ExCEL schedule. Each Friday, students volunteer in the community by serving as reading buddies at the local elementary school, helping clean and care for animals at the animal shelter, and visiting residential homes for adults with disabilities to build relationships and foster community connections. These experiences help students develop empathy, civic responsibility, and a stronger sense of connection to their community.

MSAD 15 ExCEL students read to local elementary students.

Building the ExCEL Community

Twice a year, Fralich sends out a request for student recommendations for the ExCEL program. Students are generally referred by school staff, but students can also self-refer. Referrals are reviewed by school-based mental health staff, administrators, and ExCEL teachers. School counselors then meet with interested students to discuss the program and schedule shadow days so they can experience the classroom firsthand and determine whether it is a good fit. These visits also allow prospective students to ask questions of both ExCEL teachers and current students.

ExCEL students frequently cite the program’s smaller setting, field trips, and immediate access to support as key benefits. Most importantly, they describe feeling comfortable and engaged in school because of the program. ExCEL demonstrates that alternative education can uphold high academic standards while centering relationships, student voice, and authentic learning. By creating a structured yet supportive environment, ExCEL keeps students on track for graduation while helping them build confidence and connection.

This story was written in collaboration with Gray-New Gloucester High School (MSAD 15) as part of an ongoing series to highlight alternative education programs across Maine. For more information about alternative education, please visit the Maine DOE Alternative Education webpage or contact Aubrie Howard, Maine DOE Student Success and Wellbeing Specialist, at aubrie.howard@maine.gov. To submit a good news story to the Maine DOE, please fill out the good news submission form.