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Musical ‘Gypsy’ at OHS

ORONO – Orono High School will present the musical “Gypsy” at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 20-22, in the Orono High School gym.

The play is directed by Chris Luthin with musical direction by Terrence Henry, choreography by Molly Schenck and set and lighting design by Sandy Cyrus.

“Gypsy” is based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist. It focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with “the ultimate show business mother.”

In particular, the story follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform on stage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life.

“Gypsy” was written in 1959 by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents and features such popular show tunes as “Everything’s Coming up Roses” and “Let Me Entertain You.”

Greta Landis plays Gypsy, and Amy Mares is her mother Rose. Other featured cast members are Patrick Molloy, Fiona O’Connell, Matt Claar, Dan Legere, Patrick Egenhofer, Ben Innis, Alex Bulteel, Blaise Collette, Devon Riley and Briana Pickering.

Local elementary school children Nyxie Sader of Orono and Elizabeth White of Veazie play the younger versions of Rose’s two daughters, Louise and June.

Tickets are $7, $5 for students at the door.

DeMolay, Rainbow Girls

HAMPDEN – Members of the Bangor Chapter, Order of DeMolay, and members of the Rainbow Girls recently made a weekend trip to Massachusetts. The group traveled to Auburn where they boarded a tour bus that took them to the Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children in Springfield, Mass.

Members of Rainbow and DeMolay groups from across the state and New Brunswick also made the trip.

The young people were given a tour of the hospital and shown what it offers children who are accepted as patients. They also met some of the children who are patients there.

In the afternoon, group members had the choice of going to the Springfield Mall or the Basketball Hall of Fame.

During the trip the Rainbow Girls were housed in the Springfield Masonic Hall, where they camped out. Demolay members were housed at another lodge a few miles away.

The group had a pancake breakfast, then went on a trip to Six Flags Park, where they spent the day.

DeMolay is an international boys fraternal organization with chapters throughout Maine and the world. The Bangor Chapter meets at 6:30 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of the month at the Hampden Masonic Hall, across from Hampden Academy. Major trips, such as the one by bus to Massachusetts, are paid for by the organization. For more information, call chapter adviser Dr. Robert Erickson, 862-6267.

Colleges

Nursing professorship at University of Maine

ORONO – The Acadia Hospital in Bangor has provided up to $250,000 over five years to establish a professorship at the University of Maine School of Nursing as part of what is likely the state’s first-ever academic-service partnership aimed at improving opportunities in psychiatric and mental health nursing education.

Through the Acadia Professorship of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, the hospital and the university will work together to recruit a Ph.D.-trained faculty member who will teach student nurses and manage their onsite clinical education and will have an extraordinary opportunity to conduct research with Acadia staff on the specific needs of populations served by the private, nonprofit provider in psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment.

“This is a groundbreaking move that will raise the bar in setting a standard of collaboration between academia and practice,” said April Giard, vice president and chief nursing officer at The Acadia Hospital.

Representatives from the university and the hospital said the collaboration makes sense since the institutions share a concern for the importance of having expert nursing faculty to prepare nurses with exceptional knowledge and skills and a commitment to lifelong professional development for optimal health of patients and families.

Associate Professor Nancy Fishwick, interim director of the School of Nursing, said UMaine and The Acadia Hospital have had a successful relationship for many years.

“The Acadia Hospital has generously provided essential learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students from UMaine School of Nursing, both in the classroom and in the clinical setting,” Fishwick said. “As a result of their experience at The Acadia Hospital, students frequently are inspired to choose psychiatric nursing as their clinical specialty upon graduation. I have the pleasure of working with UMaine graduates who now are on staff at The Acadia Hospital.

“Graduates who choose other health-care specialties are also influenced by their Acadia Hospital experience in the sense of having a high awareness of and skill in attending to the emotional and mental health needs of patients and families in all health-illness circumstances.”

The new partnership is especially rewarding, she said, because it enables UM to offer a titled prestigious position – something that is essential since only 1 to 2 percent of the nation’s nurses specialize in psychiatric-mental health.

In addition, UMaine will be able to advance its nursing education program and increase the skill level of future clinicians. In return, Acadia will have the opportunity to work with a psychiatric nurse- researcher who will promote scholarly activity focusing on the specific needs of people affected by mental illness or substance dependency.

Dottie Hill, former president and CEO of The Acadia Hospital, who initiated the professorship but retired in October before it became a reality, said she was thrilled.

“I was well aware that our future workforce is dependent upon our future faculty, and that it is becoming more difficult to recruit faculty to prepare all nurses, not only psychiatric mental health nurses,” Hill said. “My hope is that this exciting professorship will be utilized by others as a template to draw more faculty to Maine and to prepare our future nursing workforce in all specialties. I have long been an advocate for appropriate nursing faculty compensation and believe this opportunity should be the first of many to achieve the mutual goals of having enough faculty to meet the demands of those who wish to enter the profession of nursing.”

In 2003, Acadia became the first psychiatric hospital in the world to achieve magnet status through The American Nurses Credentialing Center, which focuses on nursing excellence.

Ed Ashworth, dean of UM’s College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture, said the new relationship with Acadia “allows us to make the position special and team together to bring a quality faculty member in psychiatric mental health nursing to UMaine. This way, we’ll be able to emphasize psychiatric nursing to our students and partner with the people who hire them.”

Scholarship applications

The Maine Community College System board of directors at its October meeting voted to open its scholarship application process to young adults who have grown out of foster care and want to attend community college in Maine.

Enrollment in the Maine Community College System is growing, and the board said that with this growth, the scholarship application process should include those students who want to take advantage of the program.

With its vote, the board has approved limited scholarship funding beginning January 2009 for students who grew out of foster care and are enrolled in a Maine community college.

The application may be downloaded at www.nationalscholarshipfund.org or obtained by calling 510-7502. The deadline for the special funding is Monday, Dec. 15.

Plant a Row for the Hungry

ORONO – The tallies are in, and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension has collected 69,895 pounds of produce, 70 dozen ears of corn and 60 loaves of bread as part of its Plant a Row for the Hungry outreach project.

Home gardeners, Master Gardeners and others with a green thumb participate in the program, which provides fresh fruits and vegetables to needy individuals and families in Maine.

“Despite the less than ideal growing season, Maine gardeners and farmers have once again given generously of their time and harvest to make a huge difference in combating hunger in Maine,” said Barbara Murphy, an Extension educator in Oxford County.

The local effort is part of a national program sponsored by the Garden Writers Association.

A breakdown of donations by county follows:

. Penobscot, 14,947 pounds; five dozen ears of corn.

. Androscoggin and Sagadahoc, 3,750 pounds.

. Franklin, 3,200 pounds.

. Kennebec, 530 pounds.

. Piscataquis, 600 pounds.

. Somerset, 650 pounds.

. Kennebec, Lincoln and Waldo, 7,509 pounds.

. Cumberland, 6,491 pounds.

. Washington, 1.700 pounds.

. Oxford, 3,610 pounds, 65 dozen ears of corn, 60 loaves of bread.

. York, 32,208 pounds.

Honors at MMA

CASTINE – Maine Maritime Academy has chosen selected students to receive the Henry A. Scheel Scholars designation, the college’s highest undergraduate academic honor. It is awarded to students who best exemplify intellectual curiosity and academic achievement and was named in honor of the late Henry A. Scheel of Rockport, a naval architect who left funds to endow scholarships for outstanding students.

This year’s recipients were selected by the chairmen of the academic departments and represent the highest standard of achievement in each of the undergraduate majors.

Award recipients are Jenna Algee, Bangor, marine biology; Paul Arnold II, Penobscot, marine systems engineering; George Barnes, South Portland, marine engineering operations; Jeanie Cushman, South Thomaston, marine science; Aaron Ellis, Houlton, marine engineering technology; Timothy Gervais, Hamden, Conn., marine transportation operations; Zachary Hayes, Millinocket, power engineering technology; Brandon Humphrey, Hartland, marine systems engineering; Nicole St. Pierre, Baileyville, international business and logistics; and Trent Quinby, Sedgwick, small vessel operations.

A recently established academic distinction recognizes the accomplishments of outstanding students and the academic support of a leading U.S. ship classification society, the American Bureau of Shipping.

Scholarships are awarded to deserving engineering and naval architecture students enrolled in the college’s five-year marine systems engineering program. Recipients receive a $10,000 scholarship in each of the final two years at MMA and the opportunity to complete an internship at the bureau.

They were selected based on grade point average, classroom and academic leadership, and intellectual curiosity and growth. Recipients are Andrew Blackman, Warren; Kenneth Brown, Chicago, Ill.; Ian Jellison, Orland; Nicholas Starbird, Auburn; Clay Tolman, Warren; and Travis Wallace, Crawford.

UMaine Alumni Association

ORONO – As part of an on-going commitment to the community, employees of the University of Maine Alumni Association raised money for local food banks by paying $1 to wear jeans on Fridays, collecting money at Homecoming and participating in the Shaw’s Receipt Rewards Program. Donations of nearly $500 will benefit the food banks of Crossroads Ministries in Old Town, I Care Ministries in Millinocket and the Good Shepherd Food-Bank.

The Alumni Association’s mission is to promote excellence at the University of Maine by fostering productive relationships among, providing service and support to, and serving as an advocate for the University of Maine and its alumni.

The association supports scholarships, travel awards, alumni chapters nationwide, and sponsors Homecomings, class reunions and Maine Alumni Magazine.

For more information, call Betty-Jo Watt, 581-1217.