As I write this in January, I’m overwhelmed by the generosity of our community. Mayhew owes its start to a group of people who simply cared about those most at-risk. That legacy continues to this day with school counselors sending kids our way, donors stepping forward, and volunteers investing their time. Everything we do is driven by empathy and love, which are some of the hallmarks of exceptional organizations. This is alive and well at Base House, and in our nearly 2,400 alumni who have experienced Mayhew since 1969.
After four months here, I’m beginning to understand what makes it so special. Of course, this has its roots in our people. Those associated with Mayhew, including our boys, our staff, our volunteers, and our donors, are greater than the sum of their parts. The energy, the culture, and the sense of purpose we create together, our “Mayhew Magic”, drives us forward working together. Mayhew chooses our people carefully: our boys, our outreach workers, and our summer staff. These people in turn help select our broader community to volunteer their time and treasure to make Mayhew possible. People get involved because of the community that we form and our mission to challenge and support at-risk boys.
In addition to our magic, we are firmly rooted in our commitment to an all-boys environment. This has its foundation in our history, going back to Endicott Peabody and the Groton School, who brought the first iteration of Mayhew to life on Squam Lake in 1893 with ten at-risk boys from Manchester. However, like many all-boys educational programs, we heatedly debated co-education in the 1970’s and 80’s. This spirited conversation landed firmly on remaining focused on boys. As seen by our commitment to, and our partnership with, other programs committed to girls, we believe that every at-risk teenager, regardless of gender, deserves challenge and support during these formative years. But Mayhew believes our program is not only especially suited to boys, but that boys are at significant risk in their teenage years. The data shows that teenage boys are more likely to be suspended/expelled from school, are behind in educational achievement, and are more likely to have anger issues, engage in high-risk behaviors, and die by suicide. (Feel free to browse to the National Center for Education Statistics, the Brookings Institute, and the National Institutes of Health, respectively)
Finally, although Mayhew has a time-tested approach in working with boys, we have an eye for the future. During 2025, our team will be looking closely at our curriculum, especially with our 16–18-year-olds. How can we prepare them better for the post-graduation world, wherever their destination may be? We will also turn an eye to broadening Mayhew’s reach so we can engage more students and more donors to support our work. How do we engage other boys in New Hampshire, and how can we bring in a more predictable funding base that supports our work? And, although we all know what success feels like, and we know it when we see it, can we design some metrics that complement the smile on one of our boys who swims around the island, summits Mt. Cardigan, or strides across that stage at high school graduation? Mayhew will always be based on the relationships with and between our boys, but there are different ways to capture our success.
We owe a great deal of what makes us special to those who came before us. Just before the end of the year, I was lucky enough to spend some time with Jonathan Choate, the first director of Mayhew in the summer of 1969. When discussing Mayhew, Jon reminisced about the people (both boys and counselors) and the magic they created that first season. I was happy to report to him that we still have that magic and will always strive to keep it moving forward.
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