Founder and advisor – Connie Carter
OMS contact – Debra Bishop
Operation Breaking Stereotypes (OBS) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, working with schools in Maine, Boston, and New York City to facilitate exchanges among diverse groups of learners. Since its founding in 2002, OBS has helped more than 2500 students address ethnic, socioeconomic, gender, and racial stereotypes through writing, reading, music, photography, and personal connections.
Orono Middle School students have partnered with students from Indian Island School and Leonard Middle School. This partnership brings together middle school-aged youth from three different communities who, despite all living along the Penobscot River, harbor stereotypes and misperceptions about each other which inhibit their development as students and community members. The exchanges between these three schools focus on identity, culture, being an ally, and understanding Native and non-Native communities and their shared histories along the Penobscot River. Students will visit each other’s schools again this year as they move towards understanding and growth as individuals and community ambassadors.
Click on the link below to view the PSA that the OMS Operation Breaking Stereotypes students worked on with their partners from Indian Island School and Leonard Middle School in the spring of 2017.