The New York Times set up the first formal Newspapers in Education (NIE) program in the 1930’s. The popular program soon spread across the country. The Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander have provided free newspapers to classrooms throughout Hancock County since 1998.

Reading an “adult medium” like newspapers challenges students to develop reading, speaking and critical thinking skills.

We are some of only a few papers in Maine to participate in the NIE program.

Teachers have attributed lengthened attention span, better reading comprehension and renewed interest in regular classroom work to using newspapers in the classroom — and students find learning from the newspaper fun!

Thanks to the generosity of subscribers and business sponsors who offset the cost of the subscriptions, students and teachers throughout Hancock County have classroom access each week to the print and digital editions. Students can certainly relate to the detailed school news and sports coverage; the feature stories tell of interesting people and activities in and around the communities the students live in, and in-depth coverage of local municipal governments teaches civics at a local level that will inspire civic engagement and citizenship among the students.