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For the March of Dimes

BREWER – The March of Dimes is teaming up with Z107.3 and local high schools to raise money for the March of Dimes national prematurity campaign.

The Dime Drive is sponsored within area middle and high schools by either the student council, Key Club or other school programs. Each school has complete creative freedom to decide how to raise funds.

Participating schools are:

. Bangor High School.

. Brewer High School.

. John Bapst Memorial High School.

. Katahdin High School.

. Penquis Valley High School, Milo.

. Piscataquis Community High School, Guilford.

. Jonesport-Beals High School.

. Hampden Academy.

. Hermon High School.

. Woodland Junior-Senior High School.

. Foxcroft Academy.

. Lubec Consolidated School.

The school that raises the most money will be rewarded with a school dance featuring a Z107.3 DJ. The winning high school will pick one student to be a Z107.3 DJ for a day.

The Dime Drive will begin Sunday, Jan. 1, and last through the month of January. Students are encouraged to visit during the live remote broadcasts with Z107.3 at the Bangor Mall on Saturday, Jan. 14, and Saturday, Jan. 28.

Dime Drive funds must be turned into the March of Dimes by Monday, Feb. 6. All funds raised will go to the national prematurity campaign, a five-year, $75 million research, awareness and education campaign to help families have healthier babies.

Schools interested in participating in the Dime Drive should call Gene Staffiere at 989-3376, (800) 287-6346 or e-mail gstaffiere@marchofdimes.com.

Challenger Learning Center

BANGOR – The Challenger Learning Center of Maine will offer a space simulation mission open to the general public at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29.

Experience space exploration as you work on a team as astronauts, scientists and engineers to “Rendezvous with a Comet.”

This out-of-the-world experience is open to adults and students ages 10 and up. Students under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

Admission is $18 adults, $15 students. Reservations are required. Call 990-2900 or visit www.clcofme.org/about/contact/

The schedule for Vacation Day Camps is:

. Planetary Pursuit, 9-11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec 27. Learn about the planets, create a solar system model and make a set of planet trading cards. $15. Grades two and three. Includes snack.

. Astronaut Life, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 28. Learn how astronauts eat and drink, how they breathe and what they wear. $30, includes snack and astronaut lunch. Grades four through six.

. Exploring the Moon, 9 a.m.-noon, Thursday, Dec 29. Learn about crater formations, lunar surface, moon phases and create a Lunar Lander. $15, snack included. Grades four through six.

Building bridges

BANGOR – Educators and area businesses are teaming up for another year of the Building Bridges Program, a business education partnership sponsored by the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce.

Teachers, school superintendents, guidance counselors, school board members, parents and students have called Building Bridges one of the most effective educational activities they have experienced. Participating businesses find that the program is a valuable means for developing a future work force.

From February to April, Maine businesses hold on-site tours for approximately 20 educators, where participants explore the specifics of the rapidly changing workplace and the implications for preparation of students who already are, or soon will be, entering it. A quest for mutual understanding and a curiosity about one another’s mission infuses the discussions and elicits suggestions and ideas.

The Building Bridges Program, one of the first of its kind in Maine, is now among more than 30 in the state. For those who live in the Bangor region, it represents one of the most exciting educational partnership activities available, officials said.

The opportunity to see first-hand and hear in depth about the work of such companies as Affiliated Healthcare, Bangor International Airport, Eastern Maine Community College, General Electric, the city of Bangor, United Technology Center and Sheraton Four Points provides insights into how a potential work force is educated.

The program offers three teacher recertification credits for 11 three-hour sessions held from 3:15 to 6 p.m. each week, beginning in February. To obtain more information, call the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, 947-0307.

National award finalist

WINTERPORT – Troy Howard Middle School mathematics teacher Meghan Southworth believes that today’s kids have the ability and dedication to excel in math and provide the nation with leaders in the field.

Southworth, a resident of Winterport, is one of three Maine teachers named finalists in the 2005 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the nation’s highest honor for secondary school teaching in those fields. The winners from each state will be announced in March.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Southworth said. “I was thrilled just to be nominated in the first place.”

Southworth, a graduate of the University of Maine, has been teaching mathematics for 10 years, the past nine to eighth-graders at Troy Howard in Belfast. She teaches both general and advanced classes. Her pupils study concepts that most ninth- or 10th-graders wrestle with.

“Young adolescents are in transition from being concrete lower-level thinkers to more abstract upper-level thinkers,” she said. “I try to provide students with concrete, hands-on experience to understand more abstract concepts.”

Established by Congress in 1983, and administered for the White House by the National Science Foundation, the Presidential Awards allow each state to select up to three math and science teachers as finalists. The goal of the awards is to recognize highly qualified teachers.

Also selected as finalists for the 2005 awards are Steven DeAngelis, a science teacher at Maranacook Community High School in Readfield, and Jeff Steinert, a science teacher at Edward Little High School in Auburn.

Hampden Academy

HAMPDEN – Looking for something to get that hard-to-buy-for person for Christmas? Why not get a ticket to Hampden Academy’s Project Graduation basket bingo to be held 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, at the Hampden Veterans of Foreign Wars building, Canoe Club Road?

Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Call Denise Ireland at 947-7923 to obtain tickets or more information.

Teenage author, illustrator

HAMPDEN – Hampden Academy senior Jenna Shue enjoyed a memorable experience as she presided over her first-ever book signing recently.

AuthorHouse of Bloomington, Ind., has published Shue’s first children’s book, “Animal Island,” which was illustrated by Jonesport teenager Inge Herzog.

First written as a two-part series when she was a sixth-grader at Morse Memorial School in Brooks, and published in 2000 by the Waldo County Republican Journal, the story has been polished and refined by Shue for wider appeal.

Shue and Herzog signed first-released copies of the book, and greeted members of the public Dec. 17 at The Briar Patch in downtown Bangor.

The book tells the story of a 10-year-old boy’s summer vacation when he, his 4-year-old sister, mother and father sail up the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to Roque Island near Jonesport.

The newly published author credits her Morse Memorial School teacher Eileen Ellis for encouraging her to write.

Shue’s galley print was read by members of a second-grade class at the McGraw School in Hampden and fourth-graders at Mary Snow School in Bangor.

The comments from some second-grade “reviewers” were delightful, and are reprinted as originally written:

“Your story was asome … I hope you get it publisht soon … I like the part were the wisserd fownd out that the tresher was,” one youngster wrote. And, from another second-grader, “Thack you for leting us rede youer book … your book was trifick and keep on writing.”

Shue’s name may be familiar to readers for other activities since the National Honor Society student served as captain of the Hampden Academy varsity soccer and softball teams, and is an environmental activist who received the 2005 Maine Natural Resources Council Environmental Award.