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Rap contest winners

Andrew Bolduc and Paul Miller, both of Bangor, are the winners of Bangor Public Library’s Summer Reading Rap Contest. They received $100 each and the opportunity to perform at the Sept. 27 party for the winning school in the Summer Reading program.

Honorable mentions went to Andy Gray, Winterport; Krystle Melanson, Eddington; Karianne Rogerson, Hampden; and Fai Littman, Tabitha Fay, Patrick Bolduc, Kelly Schneck, Kenny Bazinet and John Oliveira, all of Bangor.

Bangor artist and poet Annaliese Jakimides and author Edward Nobles judged the contest.

Pumpkin summer

BANGOR – Children 14 and under are invited to be part of Bangor’s Pumpkin Summer. Plant a pumpkinseed the first week of June, tend it over the summer and bring the harvest to the Pumpkin Festival at the Bangor Public Library on Halloween. Prizes will be awarded in different categories, from size to taste. Pumpkin Summer is a joint program of the education committee of Keep Bangor Beautiful and Bangor Public Library.

Susan Poole of the education committee will help children make newspaper pots and plant the seeds to start the project at 3:30 p.m. Friday, June 6. She will give suggestions on growing thriving pumpkins in our climate whether it’s in a spacious garden on a narrow window box.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds of Albion donated the pumpkinseeds. The children’s department at the library will have gardening books on hand and will encourage children to keep a weekly journal of the plant’s progress. During the summer, the library will post weekly pumpkin facts, such as, “Did you know you could draw a picture on a pumpkin when it is small and watch the picture expand as the pumpkin grows?”

Children not living in Bangor or not able to attend the planting session are still eligible for the pumpkin contest, provided the pumpkinseeds are planted the first week in June.

Bangor Public Library will hold the Pumpkin Festival at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31. Pumpkins planted for the contest will be judged and awarded prizes based on size, shape, decoration and taste.

The Keep Bangor Beautiful education committee hopes the Bangor area will be filled with growing pumpkins this summer. Judi Perkins, executive director of Keep Bangor Beautiful, hopes that area schools also will participate by having a planting day the first week in June. To learn more about the festival, call 947-8336.

Challenger essay contest

BANGOR – The Challenger Learning Center of Maine announced the winner of its sixth- grade essay contest. Pupils were asked to use their imaginations to describe what they would learn by chasing a comet at the Challenger Learning Center of Maine. The center received more than 300 entries from 27 middle schools.

Mark Woodward, the executive editor of the Bangor Daily News, judged the essays according to content, creativity, organization and mechanics.

Jake Viola, a sixth-grade student at Memorial Middle School in South Portland, wrote the winning essay, “The Chase of a Lifetime.”

As the winner, he will have the opportunity to take his fellow seventh-grade science class on the maiden voyage of the Rendezvous with a Comet simulated space mission when the Challenger Learning Center opens in December 2003.

Several pupils received honorable mention: Jamey Epstein, Falmouth Middle School; Madeleine Park, Blue Hill Consolidated School; Matt Proudlove, Hichborn Middle School, Howland; and Lara Watterson, Harrison Middle School, Yarmouth.

The Challenger Learning Center of Maine is based on a national program that encourages young people to set their goals sky-high. Middle-school pupils from the state will undertake simulated space missions at the center, which is being built in Bangor at the former Dow Air Force Base theater.

Organizers expect 10,000 to 12,000 middle-school pupils to visit the Challenger Learning Center each year.

Colleges

EMTC

BANGOR – Eastern Maine Technical College nursing students participated in Nurse’s Day at the statehouse in Augusta on April 29. The Maine State Nurses Association sponsored the event.

Nine EMTC students and Suzanne Brunner, the department chairwoman, represented the college. Amanda Landry of Glenburn displayed her project on preventing heart disease.

Education opportunity

BANGOR – The Maine Educational Opportunity Center is a federally funded program that helps qualified adults make the transition toward a college education. The program, housed at the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development, provides assistance for qualified adults living in Maine and helps them go to whatever college they choose.

MEOC provides GED-SAT preparation, college planning, referral and advocacy, and career and financial aid counseling. Services are free.

The starting point for MEOC participants is MEOC 101: The Essentials of College Planning, an interactive workshop that outlines the steps in the college process – admissions, financial aid, career and study skills. Preregistration is required.

Workshops will take place Friday, May 23 and 30, at the Bangor Housing Authority; Tuesday, May 27, at Park Woods in Bangor and The University College of Bangor. To register or obtain information, call Laura Yoder at (800) 281-3703.

University of New England

BIDDEFORD – Brad Spencer was awarded a bachelor’s degree in medical biology at the University of New England’s College of Arts and Sciences and College of Health Professions commencement May 17. He is the son of Chuck and Filene Spencer of Eddington.

Kathleen Mary Donovan, daughter of Mike and Nancy Preble of Bangor and Kevin and Linda Donovan of New Hartford, N.Y., was awarded a bachelor’s degree in health and sciences the same day.

College of St. Joseph

RUTLAND, Vt. – Amy Stewart has graduated from the College of St. Joseph with a master’s degree in elementary education. She is the daughter of Kathleen and Frederick Stewart Jr. of Brewer, and a 1995 graduate of Brewer High School.

Gordon College

WENHAM, Mass. – Amanda Marie Dumond received a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature at Gordon College on May 17.

She is a 1999 graduate of Bangor Christian School. While at Gordon, she studied at Oxford University, England, during her junior year and served as a staff writer for The Tartan for three years. She was inducted into Phi Alpha Chi scholastic honor society at graduation. She is the daughter of Ervin and Carla Dumond of Orrington, and the granddaughter of Claude and Annette Dumond of New Canada.