AWTT welcomed middle-school and high-school students and their faculty sponsors for the 2025-26 Samantha Smith Chellenge kick-off event at Orono High School on November 13, 2025. In 2025-26 the Samantha Smith Challenge is getting a redesign. Instead of ending the SSC year with a big celebration of student projects—as AWWT has done in past years—we’re flipping the script, starting with a launch. Think inspiration over culmination. This was a high-energy event – sparking curiosity, introducing students to real-world issues, and helping them gear up to take action. It’s not about what they’ve done—it’s about what they’re about to do.

This year’s program theme is “Find Your Tree!” – inspired by environmentalist Julia Butterfly Hill‘s portrait quote:

We all have our own version of a tree-sit that’s out there waiting for us. It’s our life’s calling. There’s a “tree” for every one of us, and this tree can call us to be bigger than we believe ourselves to be and to create a life that is more amazing than we can imagine. What’s your tree?

The Launch event began with artist Robert Shetterly addressing the auditorium full of 250 students. He asked them to identify what motivated Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at the beginning of the story. The tornado, of course. But also, her driving desire to protect her dog Toto. It was her caring and compassion that transported her into that other world. So – turning that lesson on his audience – Shetterly asked the students what they deeply care about. And how can they use that deep passion to help move us toward a better world?

The students also viewed this video of Samanatha Smith, the eleven-year-old girl who became a world-wide champion of peace. Again, what motivated her, and how did that lead her to make a change in the world?

Penobscot leader Maulian Dana Bryant shared with the students her powerful story – driven by anger and a strong sense of injustice. While still in high school, she began to speak out against the use of racial stereotypes as school mascots and several decades later reached the goal of passing state legislation outlawing them.

After a snack break, students broke down into small groups, with each group focusing on an AWTT portrait and talking about what inspires them. Some students were beginning to formulate ideas about what issues they deeply care about and how they might begin to address those issues within their schools or communities.

The morning ended with a videotapred message from Amara Ifeji, speaking from England, about how she started working for racial justice at Bangor High School a few years back, and encouraing students to find their voices and work for the common good.

For the past ten years, the Samantha Smith Challenge (SSC) has proven to be a compelling project-based educational program, designed as a dynamic service-learning project that builds a bridge between the classroom and the world. Issues come alive when students are able to connect with AWTT portrait subjects who have actually fought for the same causes students identify. The Samantha Smith Challenge encourages every student and classroom to take the journey of truth and hope and begin building bridges of understanding right now.