County teen awarded spot at national ideas festival

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FORT KENT – In the early days of Amazon.com, founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos was tired of crawling around on the floor of his warehouses filling book orders.

When he mentioned purchasing kneepads to one of his employees, the employee suggested he instead purchase tables on which to stack merchandise, thus avoiding wear and tear on human knees.

That, Bezos reportedly said at the time, was why he surrounded himself with people of ideas and was the secret of his success. He went on to form the Bezos Family Foundation, which works to foster educational opportunities, and the Bezos Scholars Program of the Aspen Institute.

Later this month, a Fort Kent high school student will be one of 12 Bezos Scholars attending the institute’s Aspen Ideas Festival held in Aspen, Colo.

Noelle Dubay, 17, will attend the conference from June 29 to July 4 with Fort Kent Community High School Principal Timothy Doak. The conference includes seminars and informal meetings with international leaders, acclaimed thinkers and creative artists.

“I feel really good about going to Aspen,” Dubay, a junior at FKHS, said. “I didn’t know much about [the festival] before we were invited to apply, [but] now I do and I’m really excited.”

While in Aspen, Dubay and Doak will rub shoulders with the likes of Michael Chertoff, U.S. secretary of Homeland Security; Emmy-winning actress Tyne Daly; Sandra Day O’Connor, associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court; and Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of education.

In addition, scores of other world leaders, thinkers, athletes, journalists, actors and artists are scheduled to attend.

According to the festival’s Web site, the institute is a gathering place for world leaders to engage in discussions of the ideas and issues shaping modern times. Topics include arts, science, technology, culture, religion, philosophy, economics and politics.

The Bezos Scholars Program, founded in 2005, brings together 12 of the country’s top high school juniors to meet one another and engage in the institute’s seminars and informal meetings with the international leaders who participate in the annual Aspen Ideas Festival, according to the program’s Web site.

To even be considered for participation in the Bezos program, a high school must first be invited to participate in the application process.

According to Doak, who also was selected as a Bezos Scholar along with Dubay, Fort Kent Community High School was among 200 in the country that made the cut.

“We were the only one in Maine allowed to apply,” he said. “This says a lot about how we prepare our kids.”

Dubay was among five community high school students who filled out the application and submitted an individual essay. This was followed by a telephone interview with the selection committee.

“That was really hard, with some tough questions,” Dubay said. “They wanted to know what kinds of things I’d done and what would I bring from the institute for my community.”

The selection as a Bezos Scholar is much more than an all-expense paid trip to the festival, Doak said.

“I’ve talked to other school principals who have gone, and they told me when these leaders see a student, they take the time to really talk to them,” he said. “The students are treated like rock stars.”

Dubay is excited, albeit unsure what to expect in Aspen.

“I don’t know what I will experience when I get there,” she said. “I’m really excited about connecting with the other 11 students.”

During the four days Dubay and Doak are at the festival, topic tracks include Children and Education, Religion and the Modern World, and Medicine 2025.

“We are representing our community in Aspen,” Doak said. “We are honored to be going.”

Doak suspects the school’s commitment to creating a viable Advanced Placement program, combined with work local educators have done as part of the Great Maine Schools Project, got them to the application stage.

“It really says a lot,” Doak said. “Someone has recognized the changes we are making to move into the future and to make learning an important part of life.”

Dubay, who earned a perfect score on the recent PSAT exam, is currently enrolled in AP English and hopes to take AP calculus next year.

The 12 Bezos Scholars are selected on the basis of academic merit, demonstrated leadership and community engagement.

Dubay is in the top 3 percent of her class, president of the school’s National Honor Society and is active in the drama department where her recent set designs received a special commendation at the Maine State Drama Competition.

During her freshman and sophomore years, she was the Aroostook County champ in the 100-meter hurdles and last year was named the Penobscot Valley Conference champion in the high and long jump competitions.

In the community, Dubay has volunteered with various cancer fundraisers, the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race and the Toys for Tots Program.

Within the school, she and her friends founded a global awareness club working to provide relief to the poor in third world countries.

More recently, Dubay said, she and her friends have begun educating themselves about and discussing the pros and cons of a large-scale wind farm in northern Maine.

“I want to bring what I learn in Aspen back to Fort Kent,” Dubay said. “While I’m there, I hope I can have Internet access and keep a blog about it.”

She is the daughter of Parise and Pierre Dubay of Fort Kent.

juliabayly@hotmail.com

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