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Farewell to chess coach

ORONO – Members of the Orono High School chess team, their families, friends and supporters said farewell to coach Fred Irons with a party on May 31 honoring his eight years of service to the team.

Irons is professor emeritus at University of Maine, where his work in electrical engineering spanned the years 1967-1977 and 1990-2000. He was the first recipient of the Roger and Virginia Castle Professorship and in the late 1970s at MIT Lincoln Laboratory supervised design and implementation of a jam resistant guidance and control system.

Irons has been an advocate for chess in the region and the state, supporting teams and young players, offering insight into the importance of chess in the academic and social development of young people and helping to establish chess mentoring as a program under Orono High’s service learning graduation requirement.

Under Irons’ leadership, the Orono High School chess team emerged as runner-up to the state high school chess co-champions in 2006.

Irons’ team took the Penobscot Valley Chess League championship in 2007 as well as top league honors for individual points that year with first place shared by Cullen Edes and Gabe Borland.

This year, Irons’ team was undefeated during the Penobscot Valley Chess League’s season, while the reserve team placed second in the state scholastic championships.

Also this year, Orono’s Germaine Kickert became the Maine high school individual chess champion, the first young woman in 20 years to earn that honor. Orono’s Sorel Edes won first place in the girls’ state scholastic championship.

In addition, Orono’s Ryan Vienneau took first place this year in the high school state championship reserve section for players rated under 1,200 with Orono’s Nikolai Renedo taking second.

Signatures in Space

BANGOR – The Challenger Learning Center of Maine announced that the signatures of students from Bangor, Bar Harbor, Old Town, Windham, Frenchboro and Farmingdale are on their way to space.

The Student Signatures in Space project gives elementary and middle school students the opportunity to send their personal signatures into space.

The goal is to spark students’ interest in space by getting them “personally” involved in a space shuttle mission.

Participating students signed the poster when they came with their class for their simulated space mission or individually for a vacation camp session at the Challenger Learning Center of Maine between April and June. The poster is now on its way to Lockheed Martin, where the signatures will be digitally captured from the posters.

NASA will include the signatures in the manifest of U.S. space shuttle mission STS-126, a flight to the International Space Station scheduled for fall.

Schools can “follow their signatures’ mission from launch to landing, so it really piques the students’ interest in the whole process. Counterpart lesson plans that incorporate math and science activities help teachers take the learning experience to the next level,” said Barbara Reinike, Space Day program manager for Lockheed Martin.

After the mission, the poster will be returned to the Challenger Learning Center with NASA certification verifying that the signatures flew in space, and a photo of the crew that carried the signatures up.

The first Student Signatures in Space project was held to celebrate Space Day 1997 when more than 96,000 signatures from more than 220 U.S. elementary schools traveled aboard Shuttle-Mir docking mission STS-86. Since then, the program has included thousands of schools. More than 5 million signatures have flown on missions, including STS-95, the historic shuttle mission that returned U.S. Sen. John Glenn to space.

S3 is one program in the award-winning Space Day educational initiative sponsored annually by NASA and Lockheed Martin on the first Friday of May. The program is dedicated to promoting the achievements, benefits and opportunities in the exploration and use of space. The ultimate goal is to promote math, science, technology and engineering education by nurturing young peoples’ enthusiasm for the wonders of the universe and inspiring them to continue the work of today’s space explorers.

Summer day programs

HOLDEN – Fields Pond Audubon Center still has room in its one-day summer programs at the center at 216 Fields Pond Road. To register, call the center at 989-2591. The fee is $40 per program. The schedule is:

. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday, June 30, All About Frogs and Salamanders, ages 8 to 10. Learn how to find, identify and gently handle frogs and salamanders. Then find, catch, count, examine and release them.

. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, Orienteering and Geocaching, ages 11 and older. Learn to read a compass and map to find your way through the woods. Use GPS handheld units to locate hidden “treasure.”

. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday, July 8, Water Bugs! ages 5 to 7. Use a net to catch water bugs, learn to identify them and use microscopes to view them closely.

. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, July 9, Recycling by Nature and People, ages 5 to 7. Explore the forest to learn how nature recycles. Then do some recycling yourself as you make paper and musical instruments.

‘Pathways to the Past’ day camp

ORONO – The University of Maine’s Page Farm and Home Museum will offer a weeklong Pathways to the Past day camp 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 23-27.

It’s an innovative, hands-on half-day program that immerses children ages 6 to 12 in activities considered fundamental for survival in earlier times in Maine history.

“The Page Farm and Home Museum is the university’s window to the past,” said museum director Patty Henner. “The Pathways to the Past program is one of the most effective ways we can teach children about what life was like in the old days, between 1865 and 1940. They always have lots of fun, whether they are spinning wool or making soap or candles.”

Each day offers novel hands-on exploration of what life was like before electricity came to rural Maine, Henner said.

Monday is folk art day. On Tuesday, children will learn about “tools of the trade” and the six simple machines – the lever, wheel, inclined plane, pulley, screw and wedge.

On Wednesday, they’ll visit the animals at the university’s J.R Witter Teaching and Research Center. Thursday will be devoted to gardening, and on Friday they will explore how children in earlier times spent leisure time.

Children also will participate in preparing their own healthful snacks each day.

To register or for more information about Pathways to the Past Day Camp, call the museum at 581-4100.

Colleges

Boston College

BREWER – Chad Szylvian of Brewer, a junior majoring in biology and premedical studies, was named to the dean’s list with high honors for the spring semester at Boston College. He spent spring break in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., as a council leader volunteer through the college’s Appalachia Volunteers Program in association with Habitat for Humanity.

Lasell College

These area students were named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at Lasell College in Newton, Mass.:

. Taylor Curran of Bangor, who is majoring in business administration.

. Emily Reed, who is majoring in fashion and retail merchandising.

. Johanna Heeren of Winterport, who is majoring in graphic design.

Saint Michael’s College

BANGOR – Michael Shreeve, son of Daniel and Marikje Shreeve of Bangor, earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology, cum laude, from Saint Michael’s College in Burlington, Vt., during commencement on May 15.

Skidmore College

Brittany Martin earned honors for the spring semester at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. She is the daughter of Linda Martin of Veazie and Garrett Martin of Bangor.

The Culinary Institute of America

GLENBURN – Katie Fikes of Glenburn earned an associate degree in culinary arts during commencement on May 2 at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Fikes is a 2006 graduate of John Bapst Memorial High School.

University of Connecticut

Area students named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., are:

. Tyson Thornton of Orono.

. Jessica Gale of Glenburn.

. Mary Paoletti of Hampden.

. Curran Kennedy of Orono.

. Nimesh Patel of Orono.

Dearborn Scholarships

ORONO – The Dearborn Foundation, established to promote the development of inventors and entrepreneurs for the future, has awarded scholarships to eight students in the University of Maine College of Engineering.

Electrical engineering students David Chamberlaine, Michael Clearly and Fred Schwaner, as well as Andrew Farrington in electrical engineering technology and mechanical engineering major Mark Liimakka, will each receive a $5,000 scholarship for the

next school year with adjustments made according to scholastic performance. Farrington and Liimakka are from Old Town.

Zach Belding and Kyle Jensen, who are studying mechanical engineering technology, and electrical engineering student Nathan Broyer are 2007 scholarship winners who will receive continuing awards this year. Jensen is from Kingfield.

“As an engineer and inventor who has employed and trained many people throughout the years, I have found that interest is more important than any other ability,” said Howard K. Dearborn, the founder of Dearborn Precision Tubular Products Inc. of Fryeburg, who established the nonprofit foundation in 1993. “Aptitude alone without interest is not enough to ensure success and personal fulfillment.”