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All Ears Preschool

BANGOR – The Warren Center announced the opening of its new preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds.

The All Ears Preschool, part of the Warren Center for Communication and Learning Voices to Be Heard Program, will admit both typically developing and hearing-impaired children.

The program will serve area children identified as hearing impaired by addressing their needs in an integrated classroom with hearing peers.

Amy Bragg, lead teacher and clinical director of speech services at the Warren Center, said, “We believe that students who attend All Ears Preschool will be able to develop the skills needed to enter kindergarten with their hearing peers without the need of interpreters.”

“We hope it will have the overall effect of decreasing the educational cost for these students,” said Mary Poulin, administrator director of the Warren Center.

Startup costs for teachers for the program are sponsored by a $15,000 grant awarded by the Libra Foundation. Through the Maine Community Foundation grant of $9,435, the center bought furniture, a classroom amplification system that will amplify the teacher’s voice for both the hearing and hearing-impaired pupils, and other equipment for the preschool.

The Libra Foundation and Maine Community Foundation support of this program is vital, officials said. This will be the only preschool program that addresses the unique needs of hearing-impaired preschoolers in the area. The school will have a 4-to-1 pupil-teacher ratio.

The preschool still has spots available. The cost is $60 per week. School will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, June 3-Aug. 23. For more information about the preschool or other Warren Center programs, call 941-2850 or e-mail mbrichards@warrencenter.org.

Hermon High School

HERMON – Students of the month for April at Hermon High School are:

. Senior Brittany Tasker, daughter of Glenn and Laurie Tasker of Carmel; and senior Kristen Woodbury, daughter of Richard and Christina Woodbury of Hermon.

. Junior Ashleigh Fairbanks, daughter of Scott and Linda Fairbanks of Levant.

. Sophomore Ben Holt, son of Michael and Marayanne Holt of Carmel.

. Freshman Melissa Cliff, daughter of Terry and Colleen Cliff of Hermon.

John Bapst Memorial High School

BANGOR – John Bapst Memorial High School Head Landis Green and Boys and Girls State Coordinator Jason O’Reilly announced the names of this year’s delegates to Dirigo Boys and Girls State. Selected to attend Girls State are Sasha Brouillard, Megan Stewart, Emily Shalhoob, Allie Gormley and Lauren Daley.

Selected to attend Boys State is Ryan Trafton.

Dirigo Boys State and Girls State provides Maine high school juniors the opportunity to participate in a program that supplements high school courses in government and its functions. The students role-play as they learn to campaign for local, county and state offices, then organize and carry out the functions of the state government.

Candidates at John Bapst submit a written essay for consideration and are chosen by the faculty.

Sponsors of Boys State and Girls State delegates are traditionally veterans’ organizations, financial institutions, businesses and patriotic, civic, fraternal, labor, student or teacher groups.

This year, the John Bapst delegates are sponsored by the school’s Student Senate and Key Club, the Bangor Breakfast Kiwanis and the American Legion James W. Williams Post 12.

Mock trial championship

HAMPDEN – The Maine State High School Mock Trial Championship team from Hampden Academy, with a record of two wins and two losses, finished 22nd out of 40 teams at the National High School Mock Trial Championship May 10-13 in Dallas. The team from Jonesboro High School in Georgia won the title.

Each of the 40 teams competed in four rounds before the championship round. The Hampden Academy team went up against the Northern Marianas Islands, California, Illinois and Idaho, winning the first and third rounds.

After each round, teams were ranked on won-lost records, total number of scoring ballots received and total number of points. The Hampden team received six out of a maximum of 12 ballots and 1,125 points.

This year’s competition was based on a hypothetical maritime negligence patterned after the Texas City industrial disaster of April 16, 1947.

Students portrayed attorneys and witnesses; conducted opening statements, closing arguments, direct and cross-examinations; and made evidentiary objections.

While in Dallas, the Hampden team visited the site where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated Nov. 22, 1963.

Hampden Academy team members participating in the National Championship were Sam Wood, Jarrod Bouchard, Lauren Swalec, Sophie Kelmenson, Jessi Hackett, Logan Deane, Rachel Lawler and Kristina King. In addition to the competing roster of eight students, team members are Jenn Wilson, Emily Tarbell, Katie Foster, Rylee Rawcliffe, Jake Cravens, Jason Hamilton, Tao Mason, Savannah Sargent, Jack Swalec and Ryan Aselone.

Kathryn King is the team’s teacher coach. Attorney coaches are Bill Devoe of Eaton Peabody in Bangor and Jim McCarthy, an assistant U.S. attorney in Bangor.

Scholarship recipients

BANGOR – The Maude MacKenzie Scholarship of $1,000 is given each year by the GFWC-Maine Federation of Women’s Clubs to a high school senior who has completed the requirements from an accredited high school and is a resident of Maine. This year two scholarships of $1,000 each and one of $500 were awarded. Recipients are Lisa Batuski of Orono, Mary Freeman of West Bath and Kylie Huff of Burnham. Batuski, who will graduate from Orono High School, will attend Simmons College in Boston. Freeman, who will graduate from Morse High School in Bath, will attend Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Huff, who will graduate from Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, will attend Bowdoin College in Brunswick.

The scholarships are made possible by interest received from a bequest made by Maude MacKenzie who was a member of the Orono Woman’s Club. She held the office of president of the Maine Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1947 to 1949.

Colleges

Husson College

BANGOR – Two Bangor area women received honors at the 108th commencement ceremonies on May 12 at Husson College. The college awarded more than 300 undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Lindsay Neagle of Bangor was named valedictorian for the Class of 2007. Neagle received a bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies, achieving a 3.892 GPA. She is a 2003 graduate of Bangor High School and the daughter of James and Lori McKeen of Bangor. She plans to attend law school.

The salutatorian for the Class of 2007 is Danielle Billings of Hampden. A 2003 graduate of Hampden Academy, Billings received a bachelor’s degree in nursing with a 3.883 GPA. The daughter of Wendy and John Patterson of Hampden, she has accepted a position at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

New England School of Communications

BANGOR – William Devine of Brooklin, placement and internship director and a 13-year employee of the New England School of Communications, was the recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award at the school’s 25th commencement ceremonies held May 12 at Husson College.

Devine, who teaches an Introduction to Media course and a career preparation course for seniors, has managed radio stations in Rolla, Mo., and Buffalo, N.Y. He has owned stations in Wickford, R.I., and Augusta. Through those associations he has won a number of awards and citations, but he said after the ceremony that the Distinguished Faculty Award was “my greatest honor.”

He is a graduate of the University of Maine and holds a master’s degree in radio and TV film from the University of Illinois. He started his radio and TV career in 1966 as a weekend employee at WABI and also taught production courses in the UM Speech Department.

Also given out during graduation were Student of the Year Awards to Gordon Fellis of Lamoine and Veazie, and Kevin Partridge of Lisbon Falls.

Guest speaker was Daniel Hildreth, a director and shareholder of Diversified Communications in Portland,

The Outstanding Alumni Award went to Barry Alley, class of 1995, an Emmy Award-winning videographer for Fox Sports Network, New England.

Sixty-four students received bachelor’s and associate’s degrees in communications.

Also recognized were: Jarod Richmond of Pittsfield, outstanding performance in sports broadcasting, WHSN-Radio Broadcaster of the Year, school ambassador and Alpha Beta Kappa Honor Society; Kayla Boobar of Maxfield, outstanding performance in marketing, school ambassador and Alpha Beta Kappa; Gordon Fellis of Lamoine and Veazie, outstanding performance in radio and Alpha Beta Kappa; Nathaniel Roberts of Saco, outstanding performance in video production; and Elizabeth Faulkingham of Deer Isle, outstanding performance in news broadcasting and Alpha Beta Kappa.

Also, Jolene Ledger of Hodgdon, outstanding performance in radio and Alpha Beta Kappa; Justin Baker of Caribou, outstanding performance in audio; Eric Rollins of Ellsworth, outstanding performance in audio and Alpha Beta Kappa; Jeffrey Weeks of Raynham, Mass., outstanding performance in writing; and Noah Rogers of West Bath, outstanding performance in writing.

Others named as ambassadors for the school were Therese Faucher of Biddeford, Erik Little of St. Albans, Vt. and Aris Pena of New Bedford, Mass.

Other student inductees to Alpha Beta Kappa were Jeremy Felker of Jackman and Kevin Partridge of Lisbon Falls. Faculty elected to Alpa Beta Kappa were Michel Kreder, Mark Parent, Tristan Richards and Scott Traylor.

The school graduated 64 graduates on May 12, bringing the school’s total since 1983 to 972. Area students receiving associate’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees were:

Penobscot County: Ryan Cough, Matthew Stepp, Corey Wilcox, all of Brewer; Sean Mulligan, Bangor; Ryan Therrien, Milford.

Hancock County: Aaron Blackmer, Dedham.

Missouri State University

SPRINGFIELD – Kimberly Robertson of Veazie was one of 2,209 incoming students for the 2007-08 academic year to receive a scholarship, the Out-of-State Fee Stipend, of $5,100. She was selected based on her American College Test scores, her standing in her high school graduating class, and school and community leadership abilities.

Northeastern University

BOSTON – Sara Lagasse of Glenburn graduated May 5, magna cum laude, from Northeastern University with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She has accepted a position in the cardiac intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Lagasse, a 2002 graduate of John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, is the daughter of Mark and Wendie Lagasse of Glenburn.