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April vacation camp

Challenger Learning Center, 30 Venture Way, Bangor, is offering a vacation camp for children Monday-Thursday, April 17-20. The schedule is:

. Rocket Round-up for children in kindergarten to grade two, 9-11 a.m.; and Planetary Pleasures for children in kindergarten to grade two, 1-3 p.m. Monday, April 17. $15 per session, includes a snack.

. Develop a Model of a Mars Settlement, 9 a.m.-noon, Tuesday, April 18. Grades three to five. $22.

. Experience What Life of an Astronaut is Like, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 19. Grades three to five. $40, includes lunch and a snack.

. Engineer Your Own Space Station, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, April 20. Grades three to six. $30.

. Simulated Space Mission, 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 20. For the whole family. Reservations required. $18, $15 age 10 and up. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

Register online at www.CLCofME.org, or call 990-2900.

Brewer High School

BREWER – Airline Pharmacy in the North Brewer Shopping Plaza recently donated and delivered a piece of scientific equipment, a laminar flow hood, to students and teachers at Brewer High School.

The hood is used to protect laboratory users from chemical products. It prevents users from exposure to harmful fumes. Such a piece of used scientific equipment is valued at nearly $5,000. A new hood costs nearly $8,000.

Fairmount School

BANGOR – Althea Unertl received honorable mention, and Chayce Beck, Elizabeth Booker and Tyler Kenney received semifinalist designations in Letters about Literature, a national student essay contest.

The contest, sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in partnership with Target Stores, asks entrants to write a short letter to an author – living or dead – explaining how the author’s book changed their way of viewing the world and themselves.

John Bapst Memorial High School

BANGOR – John Bapst Memorial High School Head Landis Green has announced this year’s delegates to Dirigo Boys and Girls State.

Selected to attend Girls State were Chelsea Andrews, Emily Andrews and Ellie Barker of Holden.

Selected to attend Boys State were Charles Bergeron of Veazie, Nicholas Hubbard and Samuel Rioux of Holden, Anthony Ortiz of Orrington, and Michael Sekera of Eddington.

Dirigo Boys State and Girls State provide Maine high school juniors with the opportunity to participate in a program that supplements their high school courses in government and its functions. Students play roles as they learn to campaign for local, county, and state offices and then organize and carry out the functions of state government.

Candidates at John Bapst must submit a written essay for consideration, and are chosen by the faculty. Sponsors of Boys and Girls State delegates are traditionally veterans’ organizations; financial institutions; businesses; and patriotic, civic, fraternal, labor, student or teacher groups.

John Bapst delegates will be sponsored by the school’s faculty and staff, student senate, and Key Club, W.S. Emerson & Co., Bangor Breakfast Kiwanis and the American Legion James W. Williams Post 12.

According to social studies teacher Walter Sheren, who coordinates the Dirigo Boys and Girls State program for John Bapst, “This program provides another wonderful opportunity for students to learn about citizenship and to become better citizens. Those are very important lessons, since today’s students will be the community leaders of tomorrow.”

Old Town High School

OLD TOWN – The Old Town High School Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Band received second and third place at the State Jazz Festival held March 17-18 at Nokomis High School in Newport.

In the Jazz Ensemble, Jacob Shanley received the Outstanding Soloist Award, one of five students to be so recognized. In the Jazz Band, Mike Nickerson received the Outstanding Soloist Award, also one of five awarded.

These seniors have received letters of college acceptance:

. Katie Bartlett, University of Maine at Presque Isle and the University of Maine.

. Katrina Bergeron, Emmanuel College and Suffolk University.

. Todd Bouchard, Eastern Maine Community College.

. Christopher Brewer, University of Maine.

. Rachel Brown, University of Maine.

. Kala Burns, University College of Bangor.

. Forrest Bush, U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Orono High School

ORONO – Orono High School drama students placed second in the recent Class B Regional Drama Festival for the second year in a row.

Aya Mares, Jessamy Luthin and Alec Rose performed Samuel Beckett’s “Play,” directed by Chris Luthin, with lighting design by Sandy Cyrus. Sarah Averill and Hannah Cyrus receiving an award for outstanding execution of the lighting design. The cast received an award for outstanding ensemble performance. Assistant stage manager was Indigo Curtis.

College courses for high school students

ORONO – Educational technology and the University of Maine’s desire to provide college courses to outstanding Maine high school students are combined in Acadam-e, Maine’s first early college distance education program.

Beginning this fall, UM will offer 14 courses for credit to Maine high school seniors through a combination of online, videoconferencing and in-person teaching techniques.

“Year in and year out, we are impressed by the Maine high school graduates who enroll at UMaine,” said UM President Robert Kennedy. “They demonstrate strong academic capabilities, reflective of Maine’s outstanding public and private education programs. We are pleased to offer this new program, which will give those students an opportunity to access UMaine courses, taught by some of our outstanding faculty members, while they are still in high school.”

Courses come from mathematics, sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences. Among them are calculus, introduction to geology, general psychology, survey of dramatic literature and fundamentals of music.

“Maine’s public schools, particularly since the beginning of the laptop initiative four years ago, have evolved to the point where the use of technology in teaching and learning is both commonplace and highly effective,” said Robert White, associate provost and dean of the UM Division of Lifelong Learning. “Those students will be entirely comfortable with the distance learning techniques involved in Acadam-e, and they will contribute to the educational process for all involved.”

While most of the Acadam-e students will be enrolled at public high schools, home-schooled students, as well as those in adult education diploma programs, GED programs or independent high schools, will be eligible.

There are 560 student slots in the Acadam-e program. High school principals, guidance counselors and teachers will nominate qualified students according to a formula based on school enrollment – five slots for the largest schools, gradually declining to three slots for small schools. Acadam-e scholarships will cover one-half the tuition for each course. Total tuition for an in-state student, based on current levels, is $552 for a three-credit course, $736 for a four-credit course. In addition, UM will waive associated student fees. A National Governor’s Association grant will cover the remaining tuition costs for 160 Acadam-e students, and the tuition balance for 25 students will be covered by an Excellence in Education grant from Bank of America.

Students will take the courses at a time and location of their choice where the online technology is available. Some courses also feature in-person instruction, in settings such as laboratories. Those course elements will be offered either on campus in Orono or at regional locations.

“We have designed these courses so that there will be real and significant interaction between the students and the instructors,” White said. “We want to do all we can to assure student success, culminating in a strong start to the participants’ college studies.”

It is anticipated that students will receive dual credit for Acadam-e courses, earning both high school and UM credit. Each semester will begin with a daylong orientation for students at UM. The university has sent a letter about the program to Maine high school principals.

Annual 3 Bands Concert

ORONO – Ten years of great music and community support for The Acadia Hospital youth services were celebrated March 28 at the Maine Center for the Arts. Three local bands joined together to perform for an audience of 700.

Bands from Wagner Middle School in Winterport, directed by Dana Ross; Ellsworth High School, directed by Robert Frazier; and the University of Maine, directed by Chris White, also performed under the guidance of guest conductor Linda Gammon, a Maine native.

More than $15,000 was raised to support youth services. Acadia serves hundreds of children and adolescents each year through inpatient, day, and outpatient programs.

Concert-level sponsors were Affiliated Healthcare Systems, Bangor Daily News, WVII-TV ABC 7, and WKIT-WZON-WDME. Band-level sponsor was Bangor Savings Bank and student-level sponsors were The Advertising Specialists of Maine, A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., Bangor Letter Shop and Color Copy Center, Best Western Black Bear Inn, Brewer Automotive Components, Creative Print Services, Dirigo Pines Retirement Community, Foster Imaging, Snowman Printing, Tapley Pools, and University Inn.

Special support was provided by the University of Maine School of Performing Arts and the Maine Center for the Arts.

Adaptive equipment grant

BANGOR – The Technical Exploration Center, an assistive technology collaboration of United Cerebral Palsy of Maine and Husson College, is looking for Bellows Fellows candidates. The National Office of UCP has managed the Elsie Bellows Trust since 1995 to provide grants to people with disabilities for assistive technology.

Each UCP affiliate may nominate one or more people for a grant of up to $3,081. UCP of Maine in Bangor is looking for candidates. Applications may be obtained by calling the tech center, 941-2952, ext. 227.

Applications must document need for the equipment and the Bellows Fellows award must be considered the funding source of last resort. Strong candidates demonstrate clear documentation that all funding sources available have been exhausted; a portion of the costs are covered through self payment, co-payments, or waiver program; a thorough evaluation documenting the need for the equipment; and a clear and convincing statement by the person or caregivers regarding the need. Completed applications must be received by UCP of Maine by Friday, May 5.

Colleges

American University

WASHINGTON – Emily Smith of Bangor was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at American University.

Anna Maria College

PAXTON, Mass. – Craig Russell of Eddington was named to the dean’s list at Anna Maria College for the spring-fall semesters of 2005.

Brown University

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Monica Willey of Bangor, a theater major at Brown University, was presented one of five Robinson Potter Dunn Awards for 2005-2006. The awards are given to students at the end of their junior year who have the highest standing in rhetoric, English composition and public speaking.

Willey was appointed recently to serve on the university’s Sock and Buskin Board, consisting of students and faculty who select Brown’s stage performances each year. She has served as a teaching assistant and is the college representative to the Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence. She has participated in many theater productions at Brown and produced Solo Festival 2005. She served as assistant director at Brown’s Summer Theatre 2005. She also is a member of Brown’s all-women a cappella group, Ursa Minor.

Willey, a Bangor High School graduate, is the daughter of Lorna and Larry Willey.

Drew University

MADISON, N.J. – Margaret-May Ecker of Brewer was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Drew University.

University of Maine

ORONO – The American Marketing Association student chapter at the Maine Business School won two intercollegiate awards at the association’s annual International Collegiate Conference held March 23-25 in Orlando, Fla.

As important as the national recognition is what it reflects – the remarkable turnaround of a student marketing organization threatened with extinction until three years ago.

The chapter received one of five Outstanding Community Service awards and one of three Best Revitalized Chapter awards, recognizing the resurgence of the group as a whole and the services it provides to surrounding communities.

“These awards become even more noteworthy when you consider that there were over 140 chapters competing at the conference this year,” said Omar Khan, assistant professor of marketing, who accompanied the chapter’s representatives to this year’s conference.

“These are, indeed, exciting times for the AMA chapter at the Maine Business School,” Khan said, “and these laurels will only encourage our membership and executive board to further enhance our position in the AMA chapter standings internationally, as well as to be even more effective and productive on campus and the surrounding community.”

Advised by Khan and associate marketing professors Harold Daniel and Kim McKeage, the association has as its goals advancing professional development, fundraising, communication, community service, recruitment and operations skills for those interested in marketing.

Association dwindled during the 1990s. In three years, the organization successfully “rebranded” itself, clarified its goals and became better organized, said Elizabeth Duran of Saco, a senior business administration major and association president for the last two years.

Association members now hold weekly meetings, work on charitable fundraisers and projects, hold professional development programs and actively recruit new members.

Among the community service activities were volunteering for two Children’s Miracle Network fundraisers – the Enchanted Forest last Halloween and the Maine Business School “broomball” game at Alfond Arena in February – and a campus blood drive.

The association held its annual business etiquette dinner April 10, and will soon host a group of high school students for “shadow day,” to introduce visiting high school students to the college environment and the business school.

Officers of the UM student AMA chapter include: Shuja Masood, a business administration major from Lewiston, vice president; Michele Hutchins, a senior marketing major from Orrington, treasurer; Meaghan Cashman, a business administration major from Marblehead, Mass., communications director; Carolyn Paige Madeira, a business major from Rangeley, community service executive; and Angela Clark, a business major from Canandaigua, N.Y., recruitment director and social chairwoman.

University of Southern Maine

GORHAM – Melissa Patten of Bucksport, a student in the art program at the University of Southern Maine, will show her work in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition to be held April 21-May 13 at USM in Gorham.

Patten will display charcoal portraits, ceramic pieces, and black-and-white photographs of family and friends. An opening reception will be held 6-8 p.m. Friday, April 21, at USM.