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Honored teacher

STILLWATER – Joanne Alex, a primary classroom teacher and educational director at Stillwater Montessori School, is one of two state finalists for the 2004 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. She has been a teacher for 25 years.

She received a bachelor’s degree in art and education from Colby College and a master’s degree in education from the University of Maine.

Alex, who has many honors to her credit, was named Maine State Teacher of the Year in 1998 and was a 2002 and 2004 finalist for the Presidential Award. She attended NASA’s International Space Camp in Alabama in 1998 and has been a National Geographic teacher consultant since 1993. She has been a guest faculty member of the Northeast Montessori Training Institute for Geography and Cultural Studies, director of Maine Geographic Summer Institutes and the chairman of the Maine Distinguished Educator’s Forums.

Alex is the author of “I Wonder What’s Out There: A Vision of the Universe for Primary Classes,” which explains her space curriculum in the classroom.

There are 239 finalists for the Presidential Award, the nation’s highest honor for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers.

Bangor High School

BANGOR – The United States Achievement Academy announced recently that Yukari Ueda of Bangor has been named a United States award winner in mathematics. Fewer than 10 percent of all American students achieve such recognition.

Teacher Patricia Craig nominated Ueda for the award. She is the daughter of Toyoko Leonard of Matsudo, Japan.

Brewer High School

BREWER – Heather Bodge, a senior at Brewer High School, recently competed in a state culinary arts competition through the United Technologies Center of Bangor. She competed in the commercial baking division, which included 14 competitors.

The competition required a written assessment and a four-hour cooking assignment in which students made muffins, eclairs, yeast rolls and apple pie and did cake decorating.

Bodge took first place in her division. She received three scholarships to culinary arts schools, and will compete in the national competition in June in Kansas City.

Carmel Elementary School

CARMEL – Registration for prekindergarten and kindergarten will be held Monday and Tuesday, April 25-26, at Carmel Elementary School.

Prekindergarten pupils must be 4 years old on or before Oct. 15. Kindergarten pupils must be 5 years old on or before Oct. 15.

Call the Carmel Elementary School, 848-3383, by April 20 for registration materials or more information.

Glenburn School

GLENBURN – Kindergarten registration will be held Thursday and Friday, April 28-29, at the Glenburn School. Children should be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. A screening is required by state regulation and will be done by members of the school staff. Parents registering new kindergarten pupils are asked to call the school at 947-8769 to schedule an appointment.

Children who will be 5 years old on or before Oct. 15 are eligible to attend kindergarten. A legal birth certificate and a record of immunizations are required at the time of registration. A hospital birth certificate is not a legal birth certificate.

Registration will not be considered complete without these documents. It is necessary that all children who expect to enter school next fall be given immunization against communicable diseases.

Hampden Academy

HAMPDEN – Jennifer Swalec, a senior and honor roll student at Hampden Academy, has been named the winner of a $10,000 AXA Achievement Scholarship from AXA Advisors LLC, a subsidiary of AXA Financial. Fifty-two students throughout the country have been awarded the scholarships.

“Recipients are graduating high school students who demonstrated ambition and drive, determination to set and reach goals and the ability to succeed in college,” AXA officials said.

The names of the scholarship winners will be listed in U.S. News & World Report’s College Financing issue, available at newsstands beginning April 18, and online at www.usnews.com

Swalec was a member of the Maine Championship Mock Trial Team, has lettered in indoor and outdoor track and is president of the National Honor Society.

She started an annual Harry Potter night to motivate elementary school pupils to study languages such as Latin and learn about ancient cultures, language and people. ABC agreed to broadcast the second event on the evening news.

Swalec placed second in the annual Voice of Democracy contest sponsored by Whitcomb-Baker Post Veterans of Foreign Wars and Ladies Auxiliary.

Old Town High School

OLD TOWN – The Old Town High School Jazz Band and Jazz Ensemble won first place in both their divisions at the State Jazz Festival April 1. Outstanding soloist trophies went to Maggie Campbell on alto saxophone and Ethan Shanley on trumpet in the Multiple Jazz Band division.

The Jazz Ensemble won first place for the second year in a row in Division 2, beating out Cape Elizabeth and Mount Desert Island on April 2. Combo 1 received a trophy for third place in Division 1 Combos.

This is the first time that both jazz bands from the same school won first places at the State Jazz Festival.

. The following seniors have received college acceptance letters: Meghan Johnson, Khristian Bean, Eastern Maine Community College; Chelsea Nye, Central Maine Community College; Adam Avery, University of New Hampshire; Rachel Allen, State University of New York; Corey Nickerson, University of Maine; Chad Dupuis, Thomas College; and Brendan Horton, Boston University and Boston College.

Spring Art Camp

BANGOR – The University of Maine Museum of Art will offer Spring Art Camp for pupils in grades two to four from 8:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday through Thursday, April 19-21, at the museum at 40 Harlow St. The instructor will be museum education coordinator Sara Grover.

The cost is $70, materials included. There is a discount for those who belong to the museum at the family level and above.

Register by calling 581-3350.

The museum is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $3.

Space exploration activities

BANGOR – The Challenger Learning Center of Maine will offer day camps during school vacation:

. April 18, 9 a.m.-noon, “Build a Model of the International Space Station,” grades three to six, $15.

. April 19, 9 a.m.-noon, “Develop a Mars Lander,” grades three to six, $15.

. April 20, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m., “Experience Astronaut Life,” includes astronaut lunch, $25.

. April 21, 9 a.m.-noon, “Exploring Black Holes,” recommended for grades six to eight.

Call 990-2900 to register.

Learning disabilities film

BANGOR – The GEAR Parent Network will show the film, “Fat City,” 6-8 p.m. Monday, April 18, at the UCP Center, 700 Mt. Hope Ave., Suite 320.

The video helps viewers better understand the struggles that a child with learning disabilities faces each day. To register, call Helen at 564-3362 or (800) 264-9224.

Colleges

Clarkson University

POTSDAM, N.Y. – Kevin J. Simpson received a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary engineering and management in December from Clarkson University. He is the son of Brian and Nancy Simpson of Hampden.

Eastern Maine Community College

BANGOR – Registration and preregistration for the Eastern Maine Community College May, summer and fall terms are open for students already enrolled in programs. Registration for others begins Tuesday, April 19. Registration for fall will begin in July.

Courses are available at the Bangor campus and at off-campus centers in Belfast, Dover-Foxcroft, Millinocket and Ellsworth. For more information, call Linda Swanson at 974-4627.

Maine Maritime Academy

CASTINE – Midshipman Oliver Hafford of Hampden and Midshipman John Higgins of Hampden are serving as Alpha Company squad leaders of the Maine Maritime Academy Regiment of Midshipmen, a student-run leadership and management-training model.

Midshipman Michael Binekey of Hampden is serving as Alpha Company platoon leader of the Regiment of Midshipmen.

All three men are graduates of Hampden Academy.

Nursing honor society

ORONO – Omicron Xi Chapter-at-Large of Sigma Theta Tau International, the honor society for excellence in nursing, will hold its induction ceremony for new members at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 24, in Room 100, Corbett Business Building, on the University of Maine campus.

A reception with refreshments will be held afterward.

New England Board of Higher Education

BOSTON – State Rep. Emily Ann Cain of Orono has been appointed a delegate to the New England Board of Higher Education. She is coordinator of advancement for the Honors College at the University of Maine, and is a UM graduate.

Other delegates from the area include Mary R. Cathcart, senior policy fellow, Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy and former state senator; Christina Baker, former state representative from Bangor; Donna Loring, former Penobscot Nation tribal representative; and Joseph Westphal, chancellor of the University of Maine System.

Geddes Simpson Award

ORONO – Susan Brawley, professor of plant biology in the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences, has received the Geddes Simpson Award for making a major contribution at the intersection of science and history. Brawley will deliver the Geddes Simpson lecture at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in the Bodwell Lounge of the Maine Center for the Arts.

Her presentation, “The Pursuit of Science and Science Literacy: Claude Bernard to Prozac,” is open to the public.

Brawley is the principal director of the National Science Foundation K-12 Graduate Teaching Fellowship program, which received the New England Board of Higher Education’s 2005 Regional Award for Project Excellence.

She is a member of the steering committee for CORONA 2001-2006, a trans-Atlantic ecological and biogeographic study of the North Atlantic. Her research has been continuously supported by NSF since 1983, and she has had four grants from the National Geographic Society.

“She worked with colleagues to preserve the Campana elm in front of Hitchner Hall and to develop a campus heritage map,” said David C. Smith, emeritus Bird and Bird professor of American history at UMaine. “In spite of a heavy schedule, she has done what needed doing, what any one of us would hope to accomplish as a member of the university community.”

The award is supported by the Geddes W. Simpson Lecture Series Fund, established by the family of Geddes Wilson Simpson. Simpson was a well-respected UMaine faculty member for 55 years, chairman of the entomology department and editor at the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station. He also taught honors classes. He retired from UMaine in 1974.

“It is indeed an honor to deliver the Simpson Lecture this year,” said Brawley. “Geddes Simpson was a prolific and excellent scientist, and his work on plant viruses was keenly analytical. With this in mind, I thought it would be interesting to explore the importance of scientific method through the words of Claude Bernard, a doctor and a brilliant experimentalist of the 19th century, some of my own research in marine ecology, and the need to increase general science literacy in the U.S.”

University of Maine

BANGOR – The University of Maine System’s Board of Trustees has given approval to several projects related to increasing the quality and efficiency of university facilities.

The trustees agreed to create a subcommittee to review the University of Maine’s proposal to develop a co-generation facility to provide heat, cooling, and electricity for the Orono campus and possibly other UMaine facilities located off-campus.

The project, estimated to cost $9 million to construct, is expected to significantly reduce annual energy expenses, lessen the university’s dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the emission of air pollutants, according to proponents.

Trustees approved UMaine’s request for $2.5 million to install fire suppression sprinkler systems as well as provide asbestos abatement for York, Gannett and Hart halls. These improvements are part of a project to have sprinkler systems installed in all UMaine residence halls by 2008. Currently 10 of UMaine’s 20 residence halls have sprinkler systems as well as other fire suppression features.

The board also approved UMaine’s request to expand Alfond Arena by adding six new event sky boxes and to create space for both an Alfond Arena Hall of Fame and expanded retail sales space. The projects’ costs total $1,320,000 and were planned as a second phase of the current Alfond Arena renovation and expansion project. The total cost of the second phase will be covered by athletic department revenues generated in part by sky box leases and ticket and merchandise sales.