Schools

Arts Festival evening

CORINTH – Central High School, made up of students from Bradford, Corinth, Kenduskeag, Hudson and Stetson, will hold its fourth annual spring Arts Festival and Band Concert 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, May 16, at the high school cafeteria and gymnasium.

The theme for the show is “Hollywood Stars,” with student art displayed in a glitzy Hollywood opening-night manner. Members of the drama club will serve dessert and punch.

Attendees will be invited to vote for their favorite piece of student art. A panel of judges will select winners in the categories of poetry, sculpture, photography, wood, textiles, drawing and painting. The band will perform at 7 p.m. There is no charge for the event and the public is invited to attend.

Free nursery school

ORONO – The Orono High School child development class will conduct a nursery school 9:30-11 a.m. Tuesday, May 16; Thursday, May 18; Monday, May 22; Wednesday, May 24; Friday, May 26; Wednesday, May 31; and Friday, June 2. The nursery school is for children ages 3 to 5.

Students, under the direction of teacher Diane Batty, have prepared developmentally appropriate activities and learning-discovery centers. For more information, call Batty at 866-4916, ext. 521.

Etna-Dixmont School

ETNA – The Etna-Dixmont School civil rights team sponsored and organized a Multicultural Day held April 28. Approximately 40 students from Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield presented workshops about their native countries during the event. Countries represented were Brazil, Taiwan, France, Bermuda, South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Vietnam, Thailand, Jamaica, Spain and Mexico.

Etna-Dixmont pupils learned about languages and culture at the presentations.

A grant from Mainely Nutrition made it possible to serve fruit from around the world at the event.

John Bapst Memorial High School

BANGOR – Kevin Townsend, a senior at John Bapst Memorial High School, finished first in the state for his grade level in this year’s Maine Mathematics Science and Engineering Talent Search competition.

The talent search program is intended to stimulate problem-solving among Maine’s high school students as well as identify mathematical talent.

Townsend and the other grade-level winners in the program were honored in a ceremony held April 13 at the University of Maine in Orono. In addition to a certificate of achievement, he received a scholarship offer from the University of Maine.

At Bapst, Townsend is a member of the State Championship Chess Team and recently competed at the national level in that event in Milwaukee, Wis. He is the son of Ralph and Anne Townsend of Holden.

Old Town High School

OLD TOWN – The Old Town High School Army Junior ROTC program traveled to Spaulding High School in Barre, Vt., to participate in a Raider Challenge Competition. The cadets went head-to-head with 11 other high school JROTC programs from the Northeast region.

The competition included completion of the Army physical fitness test, construction of a one-rope bridge, map reading, orienteering and a 5K road march.

The Raider Challenge program focuses on survival skills, the improvement of physical conditioning and endurance. It develops leadership, teamwork and camaraderie. At the end of the competition, Old Town finished in third place overall and picked up additional trophies in the 5K road march and the physical fitness test.

Participating in the event were cadets Jeffrey Dow, Jessy Armstrong, Joshua White, Rebekah Wheaton, Daniel Wheaton, Trampas Chambers, Jean Gamperle, Dustin Bickmore, Terran Stone and Forrest Bush.

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A student from Old Town High School was among 52 speakers to compete April 22-23 in the American Legion National High School Oratorical Contest on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. The state champion speaker for Maine was Sarah Marie Niemic, a junior.

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These Old Town High School seniors have received college acceptance letters:

. Ryan Getchell, Kennebec Valley Community College.

. Jeffrey Guerrette, Central Maine Community College.

. Brian Hall, University College of Augusta.

. Gerald Herlihy, Boston University.

. Jennifer Jones, University of Southern Maine.

. Ryan Kenney, University of Maine.

. Yanghee Kwon, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, University of New England and University of Maine.

. Sarah LeClair, New England College and University of New England.

. Rene LeVasseur, Husson College and University of Maine.

. Brittany Levesque, Franklin Pierce College.

Teaching American history

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is seeking nominations for the annual Maine History Teacher of the Year Award.

The institute, in partnership with Preserve America, inaugurated the award in 2004.

The History Teacher of the Year Award is designed to promote and celebrate the teaching of American history in classrooms across the United States. It honors one K-12 teacher of American history from each state and U.S. territory.

The selection of the state winner is based upon several criteria, including experience in teaching American history for at least three years, career commitment to teaching American history, evidence of creativity and imagination in the classroom, and close attention to documents, artifacts, historic sites and the other primary materials of history.

The state winner will receive a $1,000 honorarium and will be in the running for the National History Teacher of the Year Award to be selected this fall. His or her school library will receive a core archive of history books and materials.

The deadline for nominations is May 19.

For more information, call Steve Bromage, Maine coordinator, at 774-1822 or e-mail sbromage@mainehistory.org.

Excellence in math teaching

BELFAST – A mathematics teacher at Troy Howard Middle School was awarded recently the nation’s highest honor for teaching science and math.

Margaret Southworth of Winterport has been teaching math for 10 years, the past nine to eighth-graders at Troy Howard in Belfast.

She was nominated for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in December.

Southworth received a $10,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the independent federal agency that administers the awards on behalf of the White House.

A graduate of the University of Maine, Southworth teaches both general and advanced math classes. Her eighth-grade pupils study concepts that most students encounter in the ninth and 10th grades.

National honors

BANGOR – A local student, teacher and high school have been recognized as among the best in the nation based on performance and participation in rigorous advanced placement science and math courses.

Recently named a winner of Maine’s 2006 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement were Melanie Craig, a senior at Bangor High School; William J. LoPotro, a biology teacher at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor; and Bangor High School.

Craig was recognized for receiving the highest scores on the most tests in AP math and science and will receive a $2,000 college scholarship. LoPotro was lauded for his exemplary teaching and enthusiastic dedication to AP both inside and outside the classroom. He will receive $1,000 cash. Bangor High School was selected for having the strongest AP math and science classes and for the support and encouragement it provides to AP students. The school will receive $1,000 to enhance science and math education.

At Bangor High School, Craig received a top score of five on three AP exams as a junior: calculus, statistics and chemistry. Because her scores enabled her to amass college credits, she will enter Hollins University in Roanoke, Va., as a sophomore and hopes to graduate in 21/2 years.

LoPotro has been teaching AP biology for 25 of his 37 years in the profession. The veteran teacher, who uses laboratories at the University of Maine to conduct some of his AP classes, wants his students to enjoy learning.

Bangor High School offers 18 AP classes – 11 of them in science, math and technology. A new AP environmental science class will begin this fall.

Colleges

Husson College

BANGOR – The 107th Husson College commencement exercises will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 13, in the Winkin Sports Complex on the Husson campus. U.S. Sen. Susan M. Collins will be the commencement speaker. Woodrow W. Cross, CEO of Cross Insurance and the Rev. Dana Kennedy of Milbridge, retired Episcopal minister and author, both members of the Class of 1938, will be awarded honorary degrees.

At two Husson Commencements the college will award a total of 406 degrees. Students from 123 Maine towns, eight states and six countries will participate, earning associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Husson’s schools of business, education, health, and science and humanities.

The senior class president, Natasha Ellis of Winslow, will deliver the class address and will receive a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in nursing.

At a second commencement ceremony in Portland on Sunday, May 21, at Woodfords Congregational Church, 50 undergraduates and 22 graduate students will be awarded degrees. Timothy Burton, Portland’s police chief and a Husson alumnus, will deliver the commencement address.

Lawrence University

APPLETON, Wis. – Kelsey Lutz, a 2003 graduate of John Bapst Memorial High School, was elected to Lawrence University’s chapter of Mortar Board, a national honor society that recognizes outstanding leadership, scholarship and service to the academic community. She is the daughter of Gordon and Marilyn Lutz of Holden.

University College of Bangor

BANGOR – University College of Bangor will hold its annual senior banquet 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 11, at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer.

Nearly 140 UCB students will graduate this year. They will be honored on May 11, and several will be singled out for academic scholarship, service and leadership awards.

Two days after the banquet, UCB graduates will participate in the University of Maine at Augusta’s commencement exercises Saturday, May 13, at the Augusta Civic Center. The University College of Bangor is a campus of the University of Maine at Augusta.

University of Maine

ORONO – The University of Maine’s faculty in forest resources has announced the winners of its two most prestigious awards, the Robert I. Ashman Award and the Dwight B. Demeritt Forestry Award. The awards recognize the most outstanding students in the forest resource programs.

The Ashman Award was given to Joseph Orefice, a forestry major from Harwinton, Conn. The award is given in honor of Dr. Robert I. Ashman, professor emeritus, a teacher and administrator 1930-1958 at the University of Maine.

Orefice was selected for having the highest GPA in his class, volunteering on a regular basis and showing leadership qualities.

Colby Bruchs, a wildlife ecology student from Milton, Vt., was awarded the Dwight B. Demeritt Award, which rewards students with academic achievement and leadership qualities. Dwight B. Demeritt was forestry department chairman from 1934 to 1946.

Bruchs was selected based on his high GPA and achievements such as receiving the Founders Award from the New England Outdoor Writers Association.

Fifty other students in forest resources shared 58 awards which provided $115,000 in aid toward their UM expenses.

At the close of the awards ceremony, Dr. William Livingston spoke on behalf of the faculty, saying that thanks to generous supporters, “these awards help us attract and retain the top students in the country, and many students have told me that the financial support has made it possible for them to remain enrolled in our programs.”

Onward at UM

ORONO – The Onward Program will hold an open house at East Annex, University of Maine, to introduce the public to the program, staff and current students. The event is set for 5-7 p.m. Thursday, May 18.

Brief presentations will be held, leaving time for light refreshments, to ask questions and to get to know more about what the Onward Program offers. Prospective students and others interested in the Division of Lifelong Learning program should attend the session.

Onward Program services are designed to assist nontraditional students in earning a four-year degree. At the heart of the program is a small supportive learning community that involves the commitment of students, faculty and staff. More information is available by calling 581-2319.

Achievement Academy

ORONO – The United States Achievement Academy has announced that Steven Blake of Glenburn was named a United National Collegiate Award winner in civil engineering. Blake, who attends the University of Maine, was nominated for the award by Dana Humphrey, engineering department chairman and professor.

Blake is the son of Michael and Susan Blake of Glenburn.