Schools

Maine Indian history workshop

INDIAN ISLAND – Maine kindergarten through grade 12 educators are offered a special opportunity to learn about Maine Indians. The Penobscot Nation’s Cultural and Historic Preservation Department will hold “Teach the Teachers: Maine Indian History & Culture LD291,” on Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the Penobscot Nation.

The workshop is designed to assist Maine teachers with incorporating Maine Indian history and culture into their classrooms, to identify historically accurate and culturally appropriate classroom resources, and to help foster continuing relationships between Maine educators and the Penobscot Nation Cultural and Historic Preservation Department.

Since 2002, Maine elementary and high school teachers have been required to include Maine Indian history and culture in their classrooms. The Maine Indian History and Culture Law, more commonly referred to as LD291, was presented to the Maine Legislature by former Penobscot tribal representative Donna Loring.

Loring expressed the need for such a bill, stating, “…through education comes understanding. From understanding, comes respect.” The requirement recently was added to the Maine Learning Results, updated in 2007.

The Penobscot Nation Cultural and Historic Preservation Department has been at the forefront since passage of the bill, providing educational resources and designing curriculum kits, classroom presentations and teacher professional development workshops. This is the second year that the department has held workshops.

The workshop fee is $25, including lunch. Space is limited. To preregister, e-mail penobscotresources@yahoo.com or call 817-7477 for more information.

‘Acting Can Be Murder’

BANGOR – A local group of amateur – and we mean amateur – actors are putting on a murder-mystery play for the community.

John Bapst Memorial High School will present a backstage comedy, “Acting Can Be Murder,” at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7-8, in the auditorium at 100 Broadway.

Understudy Dolores Gordon, played by junior Ana Gallant, has murdered the lead of the play, Guinevere Black, played by junior Heather Allen – and stuck her body in the trunk at center stage.

Now, Dolores is being haunted by Guinevere. The rest of the cast has no idea as to why Guinevere has “left town” and are struggling to work with the worst understudy Bapst on Broadway has ever seen.

Amidst the humor and comedic antics of the cast, Dolores goes mad, and to make matters worse, the body of Guinevere has disappeared!

Join us and laugh through a wonderful evening of fun and suspense at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7 and 8, in the John Bapst auditorium.

Tickets are $3 and are on sale 7:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m. weekdays in the fine arts office at the school. Tickets also will be available at the door.

JROTC Drill Team contest

The Bangor High School JROTC Drill Team competed recently at the Hermon High School JROTC Drill Competition.

Schools participating were Hermon High School, Old Town High School, Bangor High School, Nokomis Regional High School, Essex Junction High School in Vermont and Spaulding Regional High School in Vermont.

The Hermon event was very competitive. The JROTC Programs came prepared and everyone walked away with some hardware.

There are six events in the competition. In the inspection event, Hermon finished first once again.

The Bangor Color Guard, commanded by Cadet Staff Sgt. Lucas Desjardins, finished in third place.

Squad Drill with and without arms was commanded by Cadet Maj. Alex Waltz. They won first place in each event.

Platoon Drill with, and without arms, commanded by Cadet Lt. Col. Jordan Loeven, finished in first and second place.

The final Individual Drill with and without arms was won by Spaulding Regional High School and Old Town High School JROTC.

The next Drill Competition was scheduled for Oct. 25 at White Mountain Regional High School, Whitefield, N.H.

The Northern New England Championship will be held on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine.

AP Scholars at John Bapst

BANGOR – Thirty-six John Bapst Memorial High School students have earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of exceptional achievement on college level Advanced Placement Program Exams.

About 18 percent of the 1.6 million students worldwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to earn an AP Scholar Award.

Owen Firestone of Bangor qualified as a National AP Scholar with an average grade of 4 or higher on a five-point scale on all AP Exams taken and 4 or higher on eight or more of the exams.

Eleven students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award with an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and 3 or higher on five or more of the exams. They are Maren Askins, Charlotte Firestone, Bangor; Elizabeth Kevit, Eddington; Erin Flynn, Hancock; Jacqueline Burke, Brian Porter, Holden; Carolyn Ryder, Levant; Frederick Eyerer, Newburgh; Nathan Lesser, Orono; and Joseph Moore, Orrington.

Nine students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and 3 or higher on four or more of the exams: Jordan Meyers, Eddington; Alex Gale, Ashley Gale, Justin Jordan, Ryan Lad, Margaret Lammert, Katherine Rydell, Glenburn; Alexandra Settele, Holden; and Jamie Lapierre, Milford.

Fifteen students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP exams with grades of 3 or higher: James Brigham, Emmaline Varney, Bangor; Madeleine Bayleran-Brown, Blue Hill; Chelsea Zawadzki, Brewer; Daniel Ward, Carmel; Kaili Quinn, Dedham; Lydia Horne, Holden; Amy Cheetham, Monroe; Alyssa McIntyre, Newburgh; Lyndsey Brozyna, Matthew Nelson, Orrington; and Ryan Casey, Autumn Doughty, Eve Jordan and Olivia Simone, Veazie.

The Advanced Placement Program at John Bapst Memorial High School offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses and receive college credit, advanced placement or both for successful performance on AP exams. The school offers 15 AP courses in a variety of subjects. A similar number of honors courses are offered. Last year, approximately one-third of John Bapst students participated in the AP program.

After-school Engineering

BANGOR – After-school Engineering is being offered 3:30-5 p.m. Tuesdays, Nov. 4, 11, 18 and 25, at Challenger Learning Center of Maine, 30 Venture Way. The class is open to children in grades three to seven. A snack will be provided. The cost for the four-week series is $48 with a sibling discount available. Topics will include solar cars, hovercraft, hot air balloons and fuel cells.

Preregistration is required by calling 990-2900, ext. 3.

Colleges

Bangor Theological Seminary open house

BANGOR – Prospective students are invited to explore possibilities at the Bangor Theological Seminary open house 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday Nov. 6, at Husson University. The seminary offers the personal attention of a small school with all the resources of a larger college, organizers of the open house said.

Learn about course offerings, degree programs and financial aid, and speak with faculty, staff and students. Lunch will be provided.

The seminary offers small class sizes and a special commitment to part-time, commuter and second-career students, BTS officials said.

To obtain information or to reserve a space at the open house, call Fae Gilbride, assistant director of admissions and financial aid at 800-287-6781, ext. 126, or e-mail fgilbride@bts.edu. To register online or to learn more, visit www.bts.edu/prospective/visit.

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UM Make a Difference Day

ORONO – The Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism at the University of Maine held its fourth annual UMaine Cares service event in Orono, Old Town and the Bangor area in celebration of National Make a Difference Day on Oct. 25.

UMaine Cares began in 2005 as an effort to raise funds for hurricane relief in the Gulf Coast area. The program has doubled in size from last year and focuses on serving the needs of the surrounding communities. An estimated 150 students, representing almost 20 student groups, volunteered for half and full days with local organizations, with university faculty and staff members serving as team leaders.

Student volunteers held a food drive for Crossroads Resource Center in Old Town, a local food pantry serving hundreds of families. They also took donations for the Ronald McDonald House in Bangor.

Good Shepherd Food Bank, based in Auburn with a warehouse in Brewer, was the host for 30 students at an apple orchard in Fairfield to participate in a “gleaning party.” Students spent the day picking apples, which Good Shepherd Food Bank will distribute to hundreds of pantries, kitchens and group homes.

Students also volunteered in Bangor at Hands of Hope and the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter. Members of Delta Rho Epsilon sorority cooked a meal at Ronald McDonald House.

Other organizations welcoming student volunteers include Bangor Humane Society, Manna Ministries, the Orono Bog Walk, The Salvation Army, Leonard’s Mills Logging Museum in Bradley and United Cerebral Palsy of Northeastern Maine.

Candidate interviews by NESCom students

BANGOR – A series of pre-election interviews conducted by the broadcast journalism students at the New England School of Communications is being aired this week over radio station WHSN-FM 89.3 at Husson University.

Between 30 and 40 students in classes taught by Susan Patten and Anne Gabbianelli O’Reilly have completed interviews with 24 candidates for the series, which has been dubbed “Know Before You Go.”

The candidates, who are asked all manner of questions, are evenly divided between Republican and Democratic hopefuls, including U.S. Senate competitors Susan Collins and Tom Allen, as well as U.S. House of Representatives candidates John Frary and Mike Michaud. Also being interviewed are Bangor and Brewer City Council candidates.

“We have made a special effort to make sure our interviews are fair and balanced between the two parties,” Patten said.

The telephone interviews, which run approximately 2 1/2 minutes each, were conducted by freshman students, while the production elements were being done by the upperclassmen and will be broadcast during the morning, noon and afternoon drive slots.

Several sidebar interviews also were being done, including one with Secretary of State Matt Dunlap about Referendum Question One, which seeks to repeal a beverage tax on soda, wine and beer.

Dunlap speaks about the steps taken by his department to alleviate voter fraud and faulty registration, and said that preparations were being made for a 100-percent turnout.

WHSN, which has a signal within a 50-mile radius of Bangor, also broadcast live the “Get Out the Vote” forum that was conducted by the Penobscot Theatre Company on Oct. 29 at the Bangor Opera House.