Schools

Chinese School festival

BANGOR – The Bangor Chinese School, in collaboration with Mildel Farm, Peacemeal Farm, Wickett Farm, Old Oak Farm and Kousky Farm, will celebrate Middle Autumn and the success of the Beijing Olympic Games at a party 5:30-8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson University.

Admission is $15 a person, including dinner. Those who wish to attend must R.S.V.P. today by calling Jing at 990-0710. The schedule is:

. Social time, 5:30 p.m.

. Welcome, 5:45 p.m.

. Chinese dinner, 5:55 p.m. A door prize will be awarded.

. Poems, songs, music and slide show; performances by Chinese School students; Erhu, Guzheng and Taiqi performance, 6:30 p.m. Door prize awarded.

. Moon cake tasting, 7:15 p.m.

. Dragon dance, 7:30 p.m.

. Chinese grocer shopping times, 5:20-5:45 p.m. and 7:30-8 p.m.

Family Fall Festival

BANGOR – Bangor Christian Schools will hold their annual Family Fall Festival 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at the school on Broadway.

The family event includes a bounce house, face painting, a silent auction, hay rides, carnival games and a variety of food and drinks.

The event will be capped off with the varsity girls soccer game at 2 p.m. and a varsity boys soccer game at 3:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Challenger Learning Center

BANGOR – Challenger Learning Center of Maine in Bangor will continue its first Tuesday of the month home-schooler science workshop for this school year. Classes convene 9-11 a.m. The schedule is:

. Rocketry, Oct. 7. Build and launch a rocket powered by water.

. Astronaut Life, Nov. 11. Learn how astronauts use robotics. Make a simple robotic arm and use the center’s glove box.

. Circuitry, Dec. 9. Design a game using simple circuits.

. Magnetism, Jan. 6. Find out how magnets work and how they impact Earth.

. Special event for home-schoolers, Feb. 3. Be a mission controller and an astronaut in the center’s new mission simulation. Appropriate for grades four and up, or grade three with an adult.

The cost is $15 a person.

Classes are appropriate for children in grades three through eight and are facilitated by certified teachers. Children in kindergarten through grade two may participate if accompanied by an adult.

Preregistration is encouraged by calling 990-2900, ext. 3, or visit www.clcofme.org.

Scholarship recipient

HERMON – Morgan Gove of Hermon was awarded a scholarship from the Two Ten Footwear Foundation. Gove was chosen from more than 800 applicants. She will use the award to attend the University of Maine.

The foundation was established in 1969 to provide need-based scholarships to those in the footwear, leather and allied industries. Annual awards range from $200 to $3,000 and may be renewed. Scholarships are awarded for academic achievement, community involvement, personal promise and financial need.

Colleges

Climate change conference

ORONO – Increasingly severe hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere, retreating glaciers in Greenland and habitat changes that threaten Arctic polar bears are just three examples of the impact of climate change.

A unique and groundbreaking University of Maine conference will include perspectives on the most current scientific thinking in this field, adaptation strategies and Maine’s environmental future.

“Climate Change 21: Choices for the 21st Century” is scheduled 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Oct. 23-24, at UM’s Wells Conference Center. Conference sessions are designed to be interactive, with those attending having opportunities to ask questions and share perspectives with the experts.

Another feature will be a two-day environmental fair outdoor on the UM Mall, with exhibits from student organizations, businesses and organizations that work in areas related to the environment.

A conference highlight on Friday will be participation by CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley, who files “60 Minutes” reports on issues related to the environment. He has twice interviewed professor Paul Mayewski, director of UMaine’s Climate Change Institute and the conference’s lead organizer, for segments on climate change.

Mayewski has traversed more of the Antarctic ice sheet than any other person. Over 40 years, he has led some 50 climate science expeditions in Antarctica, Greenland, the Arctic, South America and Asia.

The conference builds on UM’s decades-long excellence in climate change research, and the state’s historic leadership role in environmental stewardship and conservation.

UM professors George Denton, Kirk Maasch, Stephen Norton, Larry Mayer, Habib Dagher, Robert Kates, Ivan Fernandez and George Jacobson also will make presentations.

Denton and Kates are members of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences. Fernandez and Jacobson are leading a UM effort, requested by Gov. John Baldacci, to create a definitive assessment of the state’s current climate and environmental future.

Baldacci will address the conference Friday morning.

The forum will include participation by UM faculty members across a broad spectrum, including policy studies, science and engineering.

In addition, a session at 4 p.m. Friday, “Expressions of Climate Change,” will include a musical performance by professor Beth Wiemann and the Athena Chorus, and the unveiling of a sculpture by UMaine professor Kerstin Engman.

Students from UM and colleges and universities across the state have been invited to participate in a poster competition related to the conference.

Paul Epstein, associate director at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, will address “Climate Change: Health Consequences and Healthy Solutions” in a Friday keynote address. Also sharing insights will be Office of Energy Independence and Security Director John Kerry and Kathleen Miller of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

John German, manager of environmental and energy analysis at American Honda Motor Co., will discuss “Vehicle Technologies of the Future” during a panel discussion.

Mayewski said it’s imperative that scientists and citizens accelerate the dialogue regarding human society and the future climate.

“I’m an optimist,” he told UMaine Today magazine in July. “It will still be warming and climate will still be unstable because of what we’ve done, but I see no reason why we won’t be living primarily on renewable energy. I think we’ll be a lot smarter about recycling. I think we will be healthier. I think we will be able to travel as well as we can now or more easily, but I think we will become more self-subsistent.”

Members of the public are invited to attend the conference free. For registration information and a full schedule, visit www.umaine.edu/conferences/

New England School of Communications

BANGOR – The New England School of Communications, an affiliate of Husson University, welcomed 440 students as the 2008-2009 academic year got under way. The total exceeds last year’s record enrollment of 392 full- and part-time students.

The largest increase came in the freshman class, with 200 students registering as first-year students – an increase of 21 over last year.

The majority of students, some 384, are seeking the four-year bachelor of science degree in communications, while 54 are studying for the two-year associate degree in communications.

NESCOM provides concentrations in such areas as video production, audio engineering, radio, Web media, marketing communication, broadcast journalism in news and sports, print and Web journalism, digital media, theater and audio visual technology.

Represented in the 2008-2009 enrollment are students from 14 states and four foreign countries.

The New England School of Communications started in 1981 as the New England School of Broadcasting, with 23 students who attended for one year and on graduating received a certificate of completion.

Homecoming at MMA

CASTINE – Maine Maritime Academy alumni from throughout the United States will return to the college Friday through Sunday, Sept. 26-28, for Homecoming festivities. Paul Mercer, director of alumni affairs, said this year’s gathering will honor the reunion classes of 1943 (1), 1943 (2), 1953, 1958, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008.

New to festivities this year will be a marketplace and auto show with classic and antique autos. Crafters, artisans and produce vendors of all types are encouraged to attend and sell their wares.

Homecoming is scheduled noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27. The outdoor marketplace will be held near the college’s athletic field.

Alumni will begin to arrive on campus Friday, with registration 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. at Harold Alfond Student Center.

An “Eight Bells” memorial service honoring deceased members of the Class of 1958 will be held at 1 p.m. Friday in front of Leavitt Hall.

The annual meeting of the MMA Alumni Association is set for 4 p.m. in the 1954 Lecture Hall on the lower level of the Harold Alfond Student Center.

Alumni and friends will mingle at a welcome reception scheduled for 6 p.m.

Saturday morning’s schedule will include bridge simulator demonstrations, campus and harbor tours, recreational sailing and tours of the campus and training ship State of Maine.

A special program, MMA Today, presented by college administrators and staff, will highlight recent developments at the college and feature high-tech teaching laboratories.

The fifth annual William J. Mottola Mariner Athletics Hall of Fame Induction, recognizing athletes, coaches and administrators for their accomplishments and contributions, will be held at 10:30 a.m. in the Humanities Lecture Hall of the Bath Iron Works Center for Advanced Technology.

Alumni Vanessa LeBlond Vigue, Class of 2000; Kirk Matthieu, Class of 1995; and former coach and aquatics director from 1968 to 2007, Edgar J. Biggie Jr., will be honored.

Kickoff of the football game versus Bridgewater State College is set for 1 p.m., after the traditional march-on by reunion classes and a welcome by President Leonard H. Tyler at 12:30 p.m.

Tyler and Capt. Jeff Loustaunau, commandant of midshipmen, will present an award to this year’s honor company for academic excellence, extracurricular achievement and community service.

The MMA Alumni Association and several alumni chapters will present scholarships to MMA students.

The Regiment of Midshipmen, led by Midshipman Capt. William Magnussen, a marine engineering technology major from South Bristol, will pass in review.

An evening banquet will conclude festivities.

Ithaca College

BANGOR – Aimee Gerow, daughter of Bangor resident Denise Simoneau, graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree from the Ithaca College School of Humanities and Sciences in Ithaca, N.Y.

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BANGOR – Julianna Moulton, daughter of Paul and Gabrielle Moulton of Bangor, was named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at Ithaca College School of Business in Ithaca, N.Y. To qualify for this academic honor, students must attain a minimum grade point average of 3.5.

UM Fulbright event

ORONO – University of Maine expertise in environmental science and talent in the performing arts will be on display at a conference, “UMaine Initiatives for Facing Environmental Challenges: A Day of Culture and Environmental Awareness,” 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, mostly at Minsky Recital Hall.

UMaine and the Fulbright Association, Maine Chapter, are the event’s co-sponsors.

“UMaine faculty members are leading the development of solutions to the most troubling problems related to our changing environment,” said professor Dorothy Klimis Zacas of the UM Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, the conference’s lead organizer. “At the same time, our talented artists are affected by our changing ecosystem and this is expressed in their work. The conference will give participants an opportunity to consider, in new ways, the broad impact of environmental challenges on our lives.”

The event will feature afternoon walking tours showcasing the three newest UM buildings to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for environmentally friendly design and construction. Tours of the Student Recreation Center, the Foster Student Innovation Center and the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center begin at 1:45 p.m.

Maine’s Fulbright chapter has nearly 100 members. The Fulbright Program established by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright in the 1940s promotes understanding and peace among nations through intercultural education supporting international exchanges involving students, scholars and teachers.

The event is free and open to all. To register, call 581-1572.

The schedule of events is:

. Welcome. UM President Robert Kennedy and Fulbright Maine Chapter President Elizabeth Richardson, 10 a.m.

. Premiere of an original composition by UM music professor Beth Wiemann, “All Crows are Equally Black.” Wiemann, clarinet; professor Anatole Wieck, viola, 10:10 a.m.

. Presentation, “Energy in a Changing Climate: Maine’s Opportunities and Challenges,” professor Mick Peterson, UM Department of Mechanical Engineering, 10:20 a.m.

. “The Bear Brook Watershed Ecosystem Experiment: Lessons for Local Management and National Policy,” professor Ivan Fernandez, UM Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Science, 10:40 a.m.

. Musical performance, professor Nancy Ogle, voice; professor Ginger Yang Hwalek, piano, 11 a.m.

. Original poetry and flute, Kathleen Ellis, lecturer in English; Shannon Buccieri, music education student, 11:15 a.m.

. “Summary of Present and Future University of Maine Initiatives for Facing Environmental Challenges,” Janet Waldron, UM vice president for administration, 11:25 a.m.

. Modern dance performance, Ann Ross, UM dance instructor, UMaine School of Performing Arts students, 11:40 a.m.

. Tour of Lord Hall Art Gallery, noon.

. Buffet lunch with organic and locally grown foods, Wells Conference Center, 12:30 p.m.