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Collaborative arts education

BANGOR – At Bangor High School, Meredith O’Reilly’s junior British literature class and Tori Kornfield’s communications class are working with

visiting dance educator Louis Gervais to choreograph original dance works they will perform for each other and the public 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, at the Universalist Unitarian Church, 120 Park St.

The students’ collaborative work is part of a regional program, now in its seventh year, involving high schools throughout Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.

Building Community Through the Arts, organized by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, with support this year by the Davis Family Foundation, the Frances Hollis Brain Foundation and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, sends theater, mask theater and dance artist-educators into classrooms to help students explore themes from their curriculum, using dance and drama as their medium. For most of the students, it’s their first experience in creative theater and dance. The students will perform their pieces and share thoughts on the collaboration with participating classes from Dexter Regional High School; Schenck High School, East Millinocket; Penquis Valley High School, Milo; Penobscot Valley High School, Howland; and Mattanawcook Academy, Lincoln. The public is welcome. A schedule of performances is available at the schools, or call Susan Potters at 676-9494.

Bangor High School

BANGOR – Bangor High School will showcase student curricular and extracurricular talents and accomplishments 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, at the school.

Old Town High School

OLD TOWN – Samantha Tardiff, a student at Old Town High School in Old Town, has been named a Henry Wells Scholar at Wells College, one of the school’s most prestigious awards for incoming students.

Henry Wells Scholars are high school students with a 90 average and 1,150 or higher in the SATs who are nominated by a guidance counselor or Wells alumna. Demonstrating academic excellence, scholars are awarded $3,000 to fund an experiential learning opportunity while studying at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y.

During the freshman year, each receives hands-on experience in a work setting that matches academic interests. The paid experience, which takes place during the junior or senior year, may be an internship, research project with a professor or off-campus study, among other options.

Reeds Brook Middle School

BANGOR – A Hampden eighth-grader was crowned the top speller in Penobscot County for grades five through eight, and will represent the county at the state spelling bee.

Nicholas Hahn-Miller, a pupil at Reeds Brook Middle School, correctly spelled “quorum” and “wrestle” to finish ahead of Matt Cesare, an eighth-grader at Millinocket Middle School, and Jonny Cole, an eighth-grader from Brewer Middle School. The spelling bee featured 20 participants from Penobscot County at All Saints Catholic School’s St. Mary’s campus for the second year.

It took about six rounds for Hahn-Miller to emerge on top.

Hahn-Miller will be the Penobscot County representative at the statewide meet, which will include one representative from each of Maine’s 16 counties at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, March 25, at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor.

Wassookeag School

BANGOR – The Wassookeag School has raised more than $300 for the Heifer Foundation. The foundation helps poor villages around the world gain self-reliance by supplying them with livestock. Wassookeag has bought flocks of chicks and trios of rabbits to help families in South America. Currently, the school is raising money to buy a pair of llamas.

Wassookeag pupils traveled to Montreal recently with the Maine Discovery Museum. They visited the biodome, insectarium and horticultural gardens. They practiced their French and learned about Canadian culture. When they returned from the trip, pupils participated in DestiNation Imagination at Husson College.

The Wassookeag School is enrolling pupils for the 2006-2007 school year. To learn more about the school, or to donate to the Heifer Project, call 945-4900.

4-H Japanese exchange

ORONO – Maine families are needed to host Japanese exchange students, ages 12 to 18, for four weeks this summer as part of a two-way exchange program sponsored by the Maine 4-H program. The Japanese youth will stay with their American host families from mid-July to mid-August.

The exchange is open to families in Maine with children close in age to the Japanese participants. Families without children in this age range will be considered as hosts for adult chaperones from Japan. Volunteers don’t need to be involved in 4-H to serve as a host; they just need a willingness to share their home and their world.

There is no need to know Japanese. The students all have studied English.

Host family applications are available by contacting the Franklin County Extension Office at (800) 287-1478 or a local Cooperative Extension Office. To obtain more information, e-mail coffren@megalink.net.

The application process includes a background check and home visit by a program representative. Besides the summer exchange, there are high school students who need host families for the school year.

The 4-H International Exchange Program is one of the largest exchange programs involving North American and Japanese youth in the world.

Colleges

Babson College

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Caitlin Churchill of Hampden and Cheryl Morris of Winterport qualified for the fall semester dean’s list at Babson College.

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

BOSTON – Riley Godley, daughter of Joseph and Karen Godley of Brewer, has been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She is studying pharmacy.

New England Board of Higher Education

BOSTON – Former Maine state Sen. Mary R. Cathcart of Orono became chairwoman of the New England Board of Higher Education on Feb. 25.

Cathcart served three terms in the Maine House of Representatives and four terms in the Maine Senate representing communities in Penobscot County before she was term-limited in 2004. She is now a senior policy fellow at the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.

The New England Board of Higher Education was established in 1955 by a congressionally authorized, interstate compact to encourage cooperation among New England colleges and universities, which now number more than 270. The board’s programs focus on the relationship between New England higher education and regional economic development.

During her career in the Maine State House, Cathcart was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs. She served as chairwoman of the Children and Youth in Need of Services Commission, the Children’s Mental Health Oversight Committee and task forces on safer schools.

Rochester Institute of Technology

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – David Turner was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Rochester Institute of Technology. A 2005 graduate of Bangor High School, he is the son of James and Mary Turner.

Scholarships to ROTC students

The Pine Tree Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America recently gave two $1,000 scholarships from the Maj. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain Scholarship Fund. The recipients are outstanding members of the Army ROTC at the University of Maine and the Navy ROTC at the Maine Maritime Academy.

Cadet Jared Grant was chosen for the award by Lt. Col. Kevin Harris, professor of military science, University of Maine. Harris said that Grant demonstrates the skills to become an officer candidate. Grant’s goal is to become a military police officer.

Daniel Gardner of the Navy ROTC is a junior at the Maine Maritime Academy. He has served six years in the Navy aboard the USS Providence, with two deployments to the Middle East as a sonar supervisor. He is majoring in marine engineering technology and operations. Capt. Chris Kopang, commander of the NROTC, said that Gardner excels in academics and military aptitude. Gardner plans to work in explosive ordinance disposal.

Lt. Col. Urban Feero, president of the Pine Tree Chapter, presented the awards.

The Ladies Auxiliary of the Pine Tree Chapter presented its annual $500 scholarship to Heather Corson from Hampden. Corson graduated from the University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and international affairs in 2004. Before college, Corson lived with an Ecuadoran family for a year. She also spent a semester studying at La Universidad San Fransciso De Quito, taking all her classes in Spanish. She is now completing a master’s degree program at the University of Maine.

United States Military Academy

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cadet James Booth, son of James and Patricia Booth of Verona Island, has been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at the U.S. Military Academy.

Booth graduated from

Bucksport High School in 2002.

Public affairs lecture

ORONO – U.S. Sen. Susan Collins will visit the University of Maine on Thursday, March 23, to deliver the annual Sen. Margaret Chase Smith Lecture on Public Affairs. The talk, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled 3:30-4:45 p.m. in the newly renovated Hauck Auditorium.

For ticket information, call 581-1648. Collins will discuss “The Ethics of Conscience: Continuing the Legacy of Margaret Chase Smith.”

“We are very pleased that Senator Collins will present this year’s lecture,” said UM President Robert Kennedy. “She is an outstanding public servant, in the great Maine tradition. Our students and others will benefit from the opportunity to interact with Senator Collins and to hear her perspectives on Margaret Chase Smith’s legacy.”

The talk is presented by UMaine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.

Extension Living Well Week

ORONO – In 2005, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution designating the second full week of March as Extension Living Well Week.

During the week of March 12-18, Extension family and consumer sciences professionals will make special efforts to teach individuals and families how to improve their quality of life. The emphasis is on healthy lifestyles, nutrition and food safety, financial management, safety in the home and work environment, relationship and parenting skills and other aspects of living well.

The goal of the Living Well campaign is to make people aware of the many extension educational programs and resources available to help them achieve a positive, healthy lifestyle. University of Maine Cooperative Extension offers a variety of educational experiences, from parenting, budgeting, child development and youth workshops to home visits with first-time parents and homebound seniors. For info, visit www.umext.maine.edu or call (800) 287-0274.