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Maine Youth of the Year

INDIAN ISLAND – Gary Fearon, member of the Penobscot Nation Boys and Girls Club and resident of Old Town, has been named the 2008 Boys and Girls Club Maine Youth of the Year. Recognition includes a $1,000 scholarship from Reader’s Digest.

Fearon is among hundreds of local Youth of the Year winners recognized by BGCA for character, leadership skills and willingness to give back to the community. Youth of the Year is the highest honor a club member can receive. The title recognizes contributions to family, school, community and club, as well as personal challenges and obstacles overcome.

As the Maine Youth of the Year, Fearon will represent Maine at the Northeast Region Youth of the Year competition June 8-10 in New York. He may not move onto later competitions as he will leave for basic training for the Maine Air National Guard on July 1.

“It would be great to continue in the competition, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Fearon, “but I’ve made a bigger commitment and I have to see that through. I’m proud to be serving in the military.”

Fearon will graduate from Old Town High School in June. He plans to enter the University of Maine in fall 2009 to pursue a degree in sociology, concentrating in criminal justice. He would like to have a career in law enforcement.

Maine Elks Scholarships

The Maine Elks Association has announced the winners of the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarships – four-year scholarships of $1,000 a year, made possible through the Elks National Foundation. These students also qualify to compete at the national level for a four-year award of $60,000.

Receiving $1,000 four-year scholarships are: Rebecca Johnson and Stephen Salinas, Bangor 244; Tracie Ankermann, Portland 188; Alexis Baxter, Waterville 905; Joshua Gagne, Lewiston 371; Ryan Budd, Wells 2738; Brian Bousquet-Smith Brunswick 2043.

The Dr. Leonard Bristol and Virginia Bristol Awards for the top male and female applicants went to Gagne and Johnson.

District, one-year $2,000 scholarships: Melissa Davis, Millinocket 1521; Harvey Shue, Bangor 244; Hannah Deangelis, Waterville 905; Daniel Pellerin, Lewiston 371; Amanda Bell, Portland 188; Nicholas Anthony, Brunswick 2043.

The state association distributed $900 each to lodge winners Andrew Estrada, Augusta 964; Michelle Wells, Bangor 244; Sean Ferris, Bath 934; Kayla Binette, Biddeford-Saco 1597; Amanda Grimes, Brunswick 2043; Christopher Houdlette, Gardiner 1293; Jennifer Arey, Greater Ellsworth 2743; Susan Pierce, Houlton 835; Anthony Maher, Lewiston 371; Garrett Rollins, Millinocket 1521; Jessica Everett, Portland 188; Erin Thomas, Presque Isle 1954; Elizabeth Meade, Rockland 1008; Marie Russell, Rumford 862; Michelle Chapman, Sebasticook Valley 2713; Peter Betts, York 2788; Jessica Beaudoin, Skowhegan-Madison 2531; Sam Gagne, Waterville 905; Michelle Oswald, Farmington 2043; Katie Pelletier, Wells 2738.

Legacy Scholarships were awarded to children and grandchildren of Elk members: Megan Percy, Bath 934; Benjamin Austin, Houlton 835; Taylor Quint, Houlton 835; Marcus Ingerson, Millinocket 1521; James Dealaman, Portland 188; Brittany Perry, Presque Isle 1954; Ashley Williams, Sebasticook Valley 2713.

This year, the Maine Elks Association and 22 lodges awarded more than $146,500 in scholarships. Many of these are funded through the Elks National Foundation, the charitable arm of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Bucksport spring concert

The Bucksport High School Music Department will present its spring concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, at the performing arts center. Featured will be the BHS band, chorus, jazz band and jazz choir.

The program includes selections by Mozart, Holst, Angel Villoldo and other composers; classics, jazz, contemporary music and good old Broadway tunes. Admission is free.

‘Insect Adventures’

ORONO – What has six legs and crawls, swims or flies? Insects! Learn more about this fascinating class of creatures at Insect Adventures from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 18, at Page Farm and Home Museum on the University of Maine campus.

Sponsored by the Friends of Dr. Edith Marion Patch, the family forum invites children and adults to join entomologists in the discovery of insects in lawn, garden, wetland and woodland habitats.

There will be exhibits, games and crafts – and even a special six-legged snack to make and enjoy. If rain should send the local insects into hiding, there still will be plenty of “buggy” activities to do indoors.

The program is one of a series of free public forums sponsored by the Patch Center for Entomology, the Environment and Education. For information, call Mary Bird at 866-2578.

Colleges

Bowdoin College

BRUNSWICK – Caitlin Libby Edwards of Bangor is a recipient of the William H. Moody ’56 Award at Bowdoin College. The award is made annually to sophomores, juniors and seniors who have made outstanding contributions to the theater through technical achievements accomplished in good humor.

Edwards is a senior at Bowdoin College. The award was announced May 7 at an Honors Day ceremony.

EMCC commencement

AUGUSTA – Some 2,149 college students will graduate from Maine’s seven community colleges at commencement ceremonies around the state.

Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor will honor 350 graduates at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17, in Bangor Auditorium. The speaker will be Thomas Swieczkowski, EMCC’s 2008 Student of the Year.

Collecting local stories

ORONO – The Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine and Cultural Resources Inc., a Rockport-based organization that helps community groups preserve cultural traditions, will co-sponsor a training workshop on collecting, documenting and presenting stories.

Local stories include personal experiences and local folklore that can contribute to identifying a “sense of place” for people. The term usually involves what is considered a person’s place in a culture, community or other environment, according to Pauleena MacDougall, associate director of the Maine Folklife Center.

Taught by a team of documentary specialists and folklorists, participants in the June 23-26 “Story Bank Institute” workshop will learn fieldwork techniques, audio and video recording, digital photography, archiving and developing public presentations.

Stories resulting from the workshop will be archived at the Folklife Center and possibly included at the story bank at this year’s American Folk Festival in Bangor in August.

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Story Bank is free to selected participants. MacDougall said applicants would be reviewed and invitations extended to about 15 people interested in the training.

The schedule includes highlights: “Sensing Place,” with Kathleen Mundell, a folklorist with Cultural Resources; “Capturing Community Stories through Audio Recording,” with Rob Rosenthal; and “Creating Documentaries with Photo & Audio Recording,” with Bill Kuykendall, photography instructor at UM.

The June 25-26 schedule includes “Video Documentation,” with videographer Jim Starkey; and “Archiving,” with Pamela Dean, archivist at the Maine Folklife Center.

To apply, call 236-6741; or Pauleena MacDougall, 581-1848.

University of Maine

ORONO – The University of Maine’s Graduate Student Government and Graduate School has announced award recipients for oral, poster and multimedia presentations at the 2008 Graduate Research Exposition.

The annual expo, held April 15-16 at Buchanan Alumni House, was designed to showcase and reward academic excellence and creative achievement with demonstrations of works in progress among graduate students.

The 2008 expo winners are:

Oral presentations

. Social sciences and humanities: Michael Fixaris, psychology, first; Julie-Ann Scott, interdisciplinary in communications and higher education, second; Laurie Pinkert, English, third.

. Biological sciences: Kristin Wilson, ecology and environmental sciences, first; Sean Blomquist, wildlife ecology, second; Jennifer Meyers, marine sciences, third.

. Engineering and physical sciences: Travis Gould, physics, first; Maria Vasardani, spatial information science and engineering, second; Benjamin Gross, quaternary and climate studies, third.

Multimedia presentations

. Alexander Gross, intermedial arts, first; Abigail Stiers, intermedial arts, and Jennifer Smith-Mayo, liberal studies, tied for second.

Poster presentations

. Social Sciences and Humanities: Jennifer Pattershall, psychology, first; Anna Cassel, clinical psychology, and Sarah Larochelle, resource economics and policy, tied for second; Lauren Holleb, clinical psychology, third.

. Chemical, physical and mathematical sciences: Randall Perry, earth sciences, first; Daniel Breton, physics, and Mudalige Gunewardene, physics, tied for second; Lei Li, physics, third.

Biological sciences: Matthew Sullivan, microbiology, first; Nathan Briggs, forest resources, second; Jeremy Charette, biochemistry and molecular biology, third.

. Engineering: Ali Shareef, computer engineering, first; David Almeida, spatial information science and engineering, second; Francois Neville, spatial information science and engineering, third.

Best commercialization potential.

Anthony Dumais, civil engineering, first; Gilliad Munden, business administration, and Anthony Viselli, civil engineering, tied for second.