ORONO – Bankruptcies. Closings. Layoffs.

The news out of Maine’s pulp and paper industry hasn’t been positive lately.

A joint program between the University of Maine and the Kennebec Valley Community College, however, aims to show high school students and teachers there are still good jobs to be had in the state’s mills and research facilities.

UMaine and KVCC officials are collaborating on the third 2008 Summer Institute in Pulp and Paper Technology, a four-day program which is being held this week at UMaine.

David Deas, who coordinates the institute, said the goal is to educate students, teachers and guidance counselors and advisers.

“Quite frankly, probably four or five years ago [high school counselors] were advising students not to go into the paper industry, that there wasn’t a future,” said Deas, the assistant pulp and paper technology coordinator at Fairfield-based KVCC. “We’re trying to turn that around.”

The institute was made possible by a $40,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant pays for all the attendees’ costs, including room and board and a small stipend.

There are about 32 students and eight high school faculty and staff members taking part. Students come from all over Maine, although most live in towns and areas with roots in the papermaking industry such as East Millinocket, Millinocket, Madison, Skowhegan and Farmington.

Some students, however, hail from coastal areas such as Belfast, Ellsworth and Rockland that aren’t known for a papermaking tradition. Two students who live in Rockport said they’re considering a lot of engineering options for their futures.

“I know the paper industry is in need of employees, and I like the whole engineering idea,” said Owen McFarland of Rockport, who will be a junior this fall at Camden Hills Regional High School and is attending the institute with classmate Campbell Miller, also of Rockport.

“I thought it was the best way to stay in Maine and do engineering,” McFarland added.

Deas said as many current paper millworkers and engineers near retirement age, jobs will open, at higher salaries, for those at the start of their careers.

“I have to believe the paper industry is here to stay in Maine,” Deas said. “There are good jobs out there.”

The program is a combination of lectures, labs and field trips. The students started Tuesday’s schedule, for example, with lectures from UMaine Pulp and Paper Process Development Center staff members.

After the lectures, the group spent two hours doing lab work in Jenness Hall with scientists and researchers. The students and teachers broke into teams of two, with each team doing a variety of tests on different types of commercial paper from magazine to tissue. The tests took measurements such as the thickness, tensile strength, brightness and opacity of the different kinds of paper.

After the lab work, the group got on a bus for a tour of the Sappi Fine Paper facility in Skowhegan.

Deas said a trip to the Red Shield Environmental LLC plant in Old Town was planned, but the excursion was canceled after Red Shield filed for bankruptcy last month. Instead, the group will go Wednesday to a pellet plant in Athens.

The bad news hasn’t scared off Nick LaCombe from considering pulp and paper as a career. Rather, the Medway resident, who has had several family members work in the Millinocket-area mills over the years, is drawn to the industry.

“I think it’d be good to learn about it anyway,” said LaCombe, who will be a senior this fall at Schenck High School in East Millinocket. “I realize that the mills are having trouble and I’d like to help somehow in the future, maybe. It’s a good field to go into.”

For more information, contact Deas at ddeas@kvcc.me.edu or 453-5809.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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