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Registration for ArtWorks!

ORONO – ArtWorks, a University of Maine community art program for pupils in kindergarten to sixth grade, providing an opportunity to explore the world of art through hands-on experiences, is open for registration for the fall session.

The semi-annual program offers children a chance to explore a variety of visual media, learn about the history of art and view other artwork.

The fall session runs for five weeks, 3:30-5 p.m. Fridays, Oct. 12-Nov. 9, in Lord Hall on the Orono campus. Parents or guardians are responsible for their children’s transportation to and from the program.

Class sections are organized by grade level and are limited to 22 students per group. Acceptance is on a first-come, first-served basis. A wait list will be kept in case of vacancies.

ArtWorks classes are taught by art education students under the supervision of professor Constant Albertson. The program provides an educational opportunity for children to enjoy art classes on campus and provides UM art education students with realistic classroom experience.

A $25 fee covers the costs of materials. A limited number of scholarships is available. For information, call Albertson at 581-3251, call the Department of Art at 581-3245, or e-mail constant.albertson@umit.maine.edu

Applications may be sent to ArtWorks!, University of Maine, Department of Art, Lord Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5743.

Nursery school at HA

The Child Development classes at Hampden Academy will operate a nursery school for area children, ages 3-5, during the school year.

The program will run two days each week, 8:30-10:30 a.m. Oct. 23 through Jan. 10. The framework of the nursery school includes learning and discovery centers, creative art projects, nutritious snacks and circle time.

The purpose of the nursery school is to provide high school students the opportunity to plan and practice using developmentally appropriate activities for the preschool child. The young children will have the opportunity to play and interact with others in a safe and well-supervised learning environment.

To obtain information or to register your child, call Diane Batty at Hampden Academy, 862-3791, or e-mail dbatty@sad22.us.

Voice of Democracy, Patriot’s Pen contests

The Hampden VFW and Auxiliary are sponsoring the annual National Voice of Democracy and Patriot’s Pen essay contests. The Voice of Democracy contest is open to ninth- to twelfth-grade students who attend Hampden Academy and Hermon High School. This year’s theme is “My Role on Honoring America’s Veterans.”

The Patriot’s Pen contest is open to sixth- to eighth-grade pupils who attend Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden and Samuel L. Wagner Middle School in Winterport. The theme is “Why I Am an American Patriot.”

Winning students on the upper levels of the contests receive scholarships and have the opportunity to receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., along with a $10,000 U.S. savings bond.

The deadline for both contest entries is Thursday, Nov. 1. For information, call youth activities chairwoman Cheryl Clukey at 223-5139.

Fruit Street School

BANGOR – Pupils at Fruit Street School took part in an international art and literacy project, Pinwheels for Peace, on Sept. 21. They “planted” pinwheels with messages of peace in the garden area in front of the school.

Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project that was begun in 2005 by two art teachers in Coconut Creek, Fla., as a way for pupils to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives. That year, more than 1,325 locations throughout the world set up some 500,000 pinwheels.

Last year, more than 1 million pinwheels were spinning in more than 2,350 locations.

Bangor art teacher Wendy Libby coordinated the Pinwheels for Peace project at Fruit Street School.

After discussing friendship, caring, peace, tolerance, respect and living in harmony with others, pre-kindergarten and grade-three pupils at the school created their own 3-foot-tall pinwheels. Colored tag board was designed with markers in various colors using lines, shapes and patterns. Libby explained that art is universal and no matter what country you are in or what language you speak, the elements and principles of art are the same.

On International Peace Day, Sept. 21, the pupils gathered around the garden, sang songs, heard stories of friendship and planted their pinwheels as a public statement and art exhibit. The spinning of the pinwheels in the wind was meant to symbolize thoughts and feelings of peace throughout the country and the world.

For information, visit www.pinwheelsforpeace.com.

Orono High Alumni

The Orono High School Alumni Association will hold its second annual “welcome back” party on Friday, Oct. 5, at the school’s football field. Beginning at about 6:30 p.m., the association tent, located next to the home bleachers, will be open to welcome anyone who has ever attended or taught, and their families, at Orono High School.

Alumni are invited to partake in hot cider and sweets of the season, and to support Orono’s football team in its 7 p.m. game against Rockland.

Additional refreshments will be available for purchase from the Booster Club Snack Shack.

The alumni association sponsors regular all-alumni events and plans to support projects at the high school to benefit current students. Anyone who ever attended or taught at the high school is automatically invited to association events.

The association maintains a free Web site at www.oronoalums.org to keep alumni in touch with one other and the school. Since the Web site went live in 2006, nearly 500 alumni have registered on the site, created by Matt Clark, Class of 1981. The site features forums, a message center, photo galleries and a “members’ map” showing where alumni are living. It has been helpful for classes planning reunions.

Alumni who wish to support the association and become voting members may do so by paying $10 in yearly dues – the dues year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Those who send in 2008-09 dues, either as a new or renewing member, on or before Oct. 5, will receive a free ticket to the Homecoming game.

Additional contributions in any amount are welcome and are tax-deductible. Dues payments and donations may be made online at www.oronoalums.org or by mail. Send checks to OHSAA, P.O. Box 163, Orono, ME 04473 .

For information about the association or the Oct. 5 event, write to the address above, call Betsy Rose at 866-3307, or e-mail brose@oronoalums.org.

Workshop on stuttering

ORONO – The University of Maine Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders invites parents, children, teens and speech-language pathologists to a workshop on Saturday, Oct. 20, for stuttering and the strategies for managing stuttering.

A series of discussions and youth activities at the Memorial Union will explore new therapy strategies, the current scientific findings on the causes and treatment of stuttering, and will bring together young people who stutter to share experiences.

The workshop, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is sponsored by the University of Maine and its Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, and the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

“The goals for speech language pathologists will be to not just gain insight into how the newest research can inform their work with kids and teens who stutter, but also to join with the parents of these children and teens to develop a common understanding of the roles each can play in the therapy process,” said Marybeth Allen, workshop director. In addition, Allen said that “parents will learn about new research in the field and ways to partner with their child’s therapist. Children and teens will join together to work on esteem-building and speech-facilitating projects.”

The workshop will feature talks by Nan Bernstein Ratner, an internationally renowned stuttering expert from the University of Maryland.

The cost of the workshop is $10 for families and $20 for speech-language pathologists. Information is available by calling Marybeth Allen at 581-2403 or by visiting www.umaine.edu/comscidis/.

Colleges

Husson College

BANGOR – Husson College will hold a ground-breaking ceremony for its new meeting house at 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, at the construction site on campus.

Maine Maritime Academy

CASTINE – The Maine Maritime Academy Alumni Association will host a lecture by John W. Fairbanks, a graduate of the Class of 1952, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, in Leeward Room of the Harold Alfond Student Center on campus.

His lecture will focus on thermo-electrics and vehicular thermo-electrics applications review, subjects in which he is a nationally recognized expert. The lecture is free and the public is invited to attend.

Fairbanks’ engineering career has included work in multiple areas of power generation and design. While an employee of the NASA-Goddard Space Center, he designed solar arrays for two spacecraft and was power system manager for the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, the largest unmanned space center at that time.

At the United States Dept. of Energy, he worked on stationary power gas turbine components developed from aircraft gas turbine engine technology. In 1997, he initiated the Light Truck Clean Diesel Engine Program to develop commercially viable diesel engines for sports utility vehicles, mini-vans and pick-up trucks with contracts with the Cummins Engine Co., Caterpillar Inc. and Detroit Diesel.

Fairbanks has authored or co-authored 89 technical papers, two of which won the John C. Neidermayer award for best technical papers presented to the Association of Scientists and Engineers.

Fairbanks has a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering from Maine Maritime Academy, a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Santa Clara.

Maine Maritime Academy

CASTINE – Maine Maritime Academy President Leonard Tyler announced that the college will honor OSG America at a ceremony dedicating the college’s latest training simulator. The ocean-going petroleum tank-barge simulator will be named for OSG America in appreciation of the company’s lead contributions to the project at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, in the lower level of Dismukes Hall.

Senior executives from OSG America will join Maine Maritime Academy students, faculty and staff to conduct a formal ribbon cutting ceremony.

Students and staff will present a brief demonstration of the unit’s operational capabilities. A reception will be hosted by a group of upper-class students to welcome Morten Arntzen, president and CEO of Overseas Shipholding Group Inc.; Jonathan Whitworth, senior vice president and head of OSG America; Norm Gauslow, vice president, Marine Labor Relations, OSG America and Elizabeth Stockman, recruiting and retention specialist.

The public is invited to attend the ceremony and reception, the first event of the annual Homecoming festivities.

According to Capt. Ralph Pundt, chairman of the college’s William F. Thompson School of Marine Transportation, the tank-barge simulator will provide state-of-the art operational training in the movement of liquid cargos, vessel stability control, and team management and communication skills development. The tank-barge also will provide loading and discharge simulation experience necessary to acquire bunker transfer and person-in-charge licensure endorsements.

A key contributor to MMA’s new tank-barge simulator, OSG America employs many Maine Maritime Academy graduates as licensed shipboard officers and in shoreside management. OSG America is the U.S. Flag division of the international firm, Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. OSG provides global energy transportation services and owns and operates an International Flag and U.S. Flag fleet of 144 vessels that transport crude oil, petroleum products and dry bulk commodities throughout the world.

New England School of Communications

BANGOR – With a view toward expanding and modifying its marketing, public relations and advertising curriculum, the New England School of Communications at Husson College has hired Nancy Roberts of Brewer as director of marketing communications.

Roberts, formerly a vice president for community impact at United Way of Eastern Maine, will be in charge of curriculum renovations and expansion in the marketing communications track of NESCom.

Other new full-time staff and teachers include Josh Small of Bangor, who will teach audio engineering and the history of American music; and Frank Welch, formerly of Lincoln, who will teach an introduction to video production course.

Upgrading the marketing communications curriculum has become necessary because of the accelerated student demand in that area, according to school officials.

Roberts brings 17 years of communications and marketing experience to the new position. At the United Way, she supervised the investment of $1.2 million in community agency programs and initiatives. She also served as director of communications at the United Way, and before that was community relations director at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft. She is a 1990 graduate of Central Connecticut State University.

Welch comes to NESCom after serving as commercial production manager at WPXT-WPME-TV, Westbrook. He also was editor and producer for the stations and before that worked as a director at WABI-TV, Bangor. He earned an associate degree from NESCom in 1997 and won the school’s Outstanding Performance in TV Production Award that year.

Small attended Berklee School of Music in Boston and has owned and operated a recording studio in Bangor for four years. He has been an adjunct faculty member at NESCom for the past two years before his appointment to the full-time teaching position.