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Huggable Hero

Emma Freeman, 9, of Hermon has been named a semi-finalist in the 2008 Huggable Heroes search. She is one of 120 young people worldwide and honored by Build-A-Bear Workshop for demonstrating strong leadership to help make the world a better place.

Emma is being recognized for creating Bears of Warmth to bring bears to children receiving treatments for cancer.

Twelve 2008 Huggable Heroes will be selected to participate in a leadership symposium in July in Washington. Each receive $10,000, a $7,500 educational scholarship and $2,500 from the Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation for the charity of the hero’s choice. They will be featured in the 2009 Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes calendar.

Hermon High School

HERMON – The Hermon High School senior class will sponsor a Senior Exhibition talent competition at 7 p.m. Friday, April 4, at the high school auditorium.

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. The competition will include singing, dancing, acting, film and performance on musical instruments. Awards will be given to the top three competitors selected by the judges. Tickets are available at the door at $3, students; $4 adults.

UM band at Holbrook School

HOLDEN – The University of Maine Symphonic Band will perform at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, at Holbrook School.

The Symphonic Band, under the direction of Curvin Farnham, will present a varied program including “A Movement For Rosa” by Mark Camphouse, “Overture in C” by Charles Catel and “Pagan Dances” by James Barnes.

The University of Maine Symphonic Band is a group of more than 60 instrumentalists chosen from students of all disciplines. Each fall, membership in the band is determined by rigorous audition. The band performs several times each year on campus and throughout New England.

State Street Elementary School

BREWER – Caid Benjamen Cummings, a student at State Street Elementary School, is a state winner in the 17th annual Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest.

The students were chosen from more than 177,000 entries representing grades one through eight. Entries were judged on the printing skills of first- and second-graders and the cursive abilities of students in grades two through eight. The contest is open to all students in grades one through eight whose school uses Zaner-Bloser Handwriting curricula.

State winners were selected by a panel of professional handwriting experts.

Cummings next will vie for national honors.

Entries are judged on shape, slant, spacing and size. State winner prizes include an award certificate and hand-engraved pens. National winners are awarded a Nintendo DS game package and a $500 U.S. Savings Bond. The classroom of the Grand National Champion is awarded $1,000 worth of computer equipment.

Maine Geographic Bee

BREWER – Seventh-grader Ryan Ward recently was named a Maine Geographic Bee semifinalist by the National Geographic Society. He is eligible to compete in the 2008 Maine Geographic Bee, sponsored by Plum Creek. He is the son of Dana and Paula Ward of Brewer.

The 2008 Maine Geographic Bee will be held on April 4 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.

Photography scholarship

The Frank Howd Scholarship is available for young photographers. It is awarded to Bangor area high school students and recent high school graduates who wish to attend Maine Media Workshops in Rockport. Application forms and information are available at local school guidance offices or at www.easternmainecameraclub.org. Application deadline is Thursday, May 1.

Colleges

Bangor Theological Seminary

BANGOR – The public is invited to an open house from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 12, at Bangor Theological Seminary at Husson College to explore opportunities for theological education. Learn about classes, degree programs and financial aid and speak with faculty, staff and students. Lunch will be provided.

To obtain information or to reserve a space, contact Fae Gilbride at 800-287-6781, ext. 126, fgilbride@bts.edu or www.bts.edu/prospective/visit.htm.

Founded in 1814, Bangor Theological Seminary is an ecumenical seminary in the Congregational tradition of the United Church of Christ.

Books2Eat at EMCC

BANGOR – Eastern Maine Community College holds an annual contest for those who love books and cooking. Books2Eat is the offbeat combination of both with a challenge for professional chefs and home cooks to re-create a favorite book in edible form.

The one-of-a-kind celebration of reading organized by Eastern Maine Community College’s Friends of the Library is open to the entire community – from elementary students to chefs – to exercise their culinary imagination by preparing a totally edible creation based on the title of a favorite book.

This will be year seven for Books2Eat and a fun way to encourage reading and to engage creatively the community.

Categories include students under age 12, students over age 12, professional chefs and everyone else – in addition to a special Stephen King title category open to everyone.

Books2Eat will take place 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, in EMCC’s Rangeley Hall on Sylvan Road. For information or an entry form, take a look at EMCC’s Web page, www.emcc.edu, under “Calendar Events,” or call Karen Reilly at 974-4606.

Open house at MMA

CASTINE – Maine Maritime Academy will hold an open house for prospective students and their parents on Saturday, April 5. Registration will take place 7:30-8:30 a.m. in the Harold Alfond Student Center. A continental breakfast and lunch are free to all participants.

Jeffrey C. Wright, director of admissions, and other college officers will conduct programs on academic majors, extracurricular activities and options in student lifestyles. Academy representatives will lead tours of the campus, waterfront facilities and college vessels. For a reservation, call 800-464-6565.

University of Maine

ORONO – The University of Maine Forensics Team has won its second consecutive Northeast Regional Forensics Tournament, besting nine other universities with reputable speech and debate teams.

Active members of the UM Forensics Team are captain Steve Moran, political science and history major who also is UM Student Government president; vice president James Lyons, political science and biochemistry major; secretary Jennifer Cohen, political science and women’s studies; treasurer Joseph Moran, business marketing major; and Jay Parrish, Dan Bourgeois-Capozzi, Moira Beale and Jeanne Ellis, all undergraduates from Bangor. Nicole Cloud, a research assistant and lecturer in the Department of Communication and Journalism, is adviser.

Moran said the speech and debate team members prepare for competitions by researching topics that could be used as subject matter for debates and extemporaneous speaking and presentation skills. In the last year, the team competed in seven tournaments.

The group is a young team, having undergone a resurrection in 2004 after several decades of inactivity, according to Moran, who was part of the resurrection effort.

Forensics competition helps students develop public speaking, debate and presentation skills, Moran said, abilities which are invaluable when students enter the job market after graduation. It also improves writing skills, he said.

UMaine Art Exhibition

ORONO – The 2008 Juried Student Art Exhibition in the University of Maine Department of Art will be on view from Tuesday, April 8, to Friday, May 2, in the Lord Hall Galleries on the university campus. The venue provides the opportunity for undergraduate students at all levels to exhibit their work.

The campus community, family and friends are invited to attend the opening reception 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, April 11. At that time the annual student awards ceremony also will take place. The Student Art Exhibition opening is one of the liveliest events of the year.

Safe Campus Project

ORONO – The Safe Campus Project and the Women’s Resource Center at the University of Maine, along with a consortium of other departments on campus, are partnering with the Penobscot Job Corps to host national speaker Tony Porter for a day-long event on Thursday, April 10.

Porter is co-founder of the national organization A Call to Men, which advocates a community approach to addressing issues of violence and working with men to become proactive in efforts to end violence toward women and sexism. Much of Porter’s work addresses the role of what he calls “well-meaning men,” who neither commit nor condone violence, but fail to do all they can to serve as women’s allies.

Porter’s appearance is part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April.

Porter will appear at the Penobscot Job Corps Center, 1375 Union St., Bangor, 8:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 10. He will make a free community presentation and meet for an hour with a leadership group.

In the afternoon, he will meet with invited campus and community leaders at UMaine.

Porter will deliver a free public lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in Room 100, D.P. Corbett Building, University of Maine, Orono. Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe will join the day’s events.

Porter is set to work with high school and college-age students 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 12, for A Call to Young Men Conference at Neville Hall, University of Maine.

The conference is sponsored by the Maine Attorney General’s Office, the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Rowe also will speak at the Saturday conference. To register, call Nicky Blanchard at 941-1194 or e-mail nicky@mcedv.org.