Schools

Etna-Dixmont School

DIXMONT – The eighth-grade class at Etna-Dixmont School will hold an auction on Friday, Dec. 1, to benefit its class trip fund. Donations of items for the auction are needed. To obtain more information, call Cynthia Alexander at the school at 234-2491.

Scholarship recipients

BANGOR – Emma Chaiken, a student at Bangor High School, and Erim Keim, a student of John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, are the recipients of the Wells College 21st Century Leadership awards.

The awards are given to high school juniors who demonstrate outstanding leadership ability in high school and community activities. Recipients are nominated by a school counselor or principal and selected by the Wells College admissions committee.

Those eligible for the award must have a 90 percent or higher cumulative grade point average and demonstrate leadership ability and potential in school and community.

The award is a $20,000 scholarship valued at $5,000 a year for four consecutive years of study at Wells College, located in Aurora, N.Y.

Colleges

Art at EMCC Library

The 2006-07 Eastern Maine Community College Library Gallery series will showcase Maine artists September through June. The library is located on the second floor of the EMCC Campus Center. The art exhibits are open to the public and there is no cost to view them. The schedule is:

. Sept. 5-Oct. 31, Janet Badger, “Memories of Moscow,” etching, mezzotint and linoleum block prints. Opening reception, 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20.

. Nov. 6-Dec. 29, Mary Louise Jacqua, “Painting Maine,” oil and pastel. Opening reception, 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8.

. Jan. 3-Feb. 28, Paula Dougherty, “Portraiture Retrospective,” oil, pastel and watercolor. Opening reception, 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17.

. May 1-June 29, Paul Thibodeau, “New Maine Landscapes,” watercolor and acrylic. Opening reception, 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, May 2.

To obtain more information, call 974-4817.

Husson College

BANGOR – More than 550 new students will enter Husson College in September.

“Since the year 2000 our overall enrollment has grown by 100 students each year,” said Dr. Richard Stephens, Husson’s chief academic officer. “This year’s entering class of 550 is our largest ever and brings us students from all across Maine and the United States.

“Serving both new and returning students will be 11 new faculty, library holdings that have doubled since the beginning of the year, two new master’s degrees in counseling psychology and school counseling, and a new Center for Academic Services,” Stephens said.

The college also has added 70 residence hall beds, new and renovated science labs and 150 new parking spots, and constructed a new food market in the Campus Center. In the next week, it will break ground on a new Student Center.

Students from 110 Maine high schools make up this year’s class, including 11 valedictorians and salutatorians, 10 Osher Scholars and 10 home-schooled students.

Another interesting statistic from this class is the residence hall population. Though the overall percentage of females to males in the entering class is 55-45, for the first time in 30 years, more male than female freshmen will be occupying Husson residence halls.

“Six years ago more than 60 percent of Husson residents were women. The balance has been converging since 2000 and this fall we are in balance. That is a very positive achievement in terms of collegiate life,” said Dean of the College John Rubino.

He attributes the shift to multiple factors. Two rapidly expanding programs – Husson’s criminal justice degrees and the New England School of Communications degrees – both have high male enrollments and both programs have more than doubled in size since 2000.

Football also was introduced in 2000.

The Husson campus is home to the New England School of Communications and the Bangor Theological Seminary. Combined, the “College Circle Consortium” will welcome approximately 700 new students.

“While the Husson campus is literally bursting at the seams,” said Stephens, “we also are ramping up our responsiveness to student, faculty and community needs for higher quality in the educational experience we deliver.”

Husson New Student Orientation will be held Saturday through Monday, Sept. 2-4.

New England School of Communications

BANGOR – Receiving a college diploma can be an exciting time for any graduate. But how about getting your degree one day, getting married the next and moving 1,400 miles for your first career employment?

That was the timetable for New England School of Communications senior Michael Rancourt, 22, of Hermon, who received a bachelor’s degree in communications on May 13, married his childhood sweetheart on May 14, and started a new life in Fort Wayne, Ind., on June 19.

A stress reliever for the couple was music and that is what brought Yvonne Drake of Dixmont and Rancourt together at the tender age of 14.

“We met at the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestra and we hit it off instantly,” Rancourt said.

Drake is a classical piano player and has sung classical music and barbershop with the quartet, Along 4 The Ride.

Rancourt has played the keyboard for the band Spilled Milk and also plays the drums and saxophone. Both appeared with the Marsh River Singers in a number of concerts.

When he started his job with Sweetwater Sound Inc. in Fort Wayne, it marked the first time that Rancourt had moved out of state.

Sweetwater Sound is a top music gear retailer and Rancourt’s position is that of sales engineer, recommending and consulting with clients from beginners to professional recording studios.

His musical background and his audio engineering expertise made him a perfect candidate for the position. In any one month, Rancourt said, Sweetwater receives about 80 applications for positions. Of that number, 20 get personal phone calls, six are flown out to Fort Wayne for on-site interviews and one or two are hired.

“I feel it is an honor for me to be selected by this company,” he said.

Drake plans to continue her work of teaching piano to individuals and groups.

Rancourt originally planned to continue his music aspirations by attending Julliard, Berklee or Concordia College. But his family couldn’t afford the cost and he decided on NESCom because, as he put it, “I could continue my musical interests but also learn the technical aspects associated with the music industry.”

Rancourt is the son of Kristan and Peter Rancourt of Hermon. Drake is the daughter of Gerald and Margaret Drake of Dixmont.

United States Military Academy

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cadet James Booth was named to the cadet Chain of Command at the U.S. Military Academy. He was chosen as company first sergeant and will be responsible for the execution of established policies and standards pertaining to the training, appearance and conduct of the company.

Booth graduated from Bucksport High School in 2002. He is the son of James and Patricia Booth of Verona Island.

West Virginia University

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jeremy Brodsky, son of Mark and Paulette Brodsky, earned a master’s degree in educational leadership this month at West Virginia University. He earned a 4.0 grade point average in the graduate program.

Brodsky, a 1996 graduate of John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, will attend the University of Maine this fall to work on a doctorate.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

WORCESTER, Mass. – Andrea Flynn of Bangor received a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering during commencement exercises on May 20 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

University of Maine

ORONO – Eleven University of Maine scientists, students and alumni who study various aspects of mercury pollution presented their work at the eighth International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant earlier this month in Madison, Wis.

Some 1,200 people attended the conference, which is the largest meeting dedicated to mercury pollution ever in the world. The 11 UM presenters helped show the international scientific community that the University of Maine is at the forefront of research into the extent and effects of environmental mercury pollution.

Sarah J. Nelson of the Sen. George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research at UMaine gave an oral presentation about her research into winter mercury deposition and cycling at Acadia National Park.

Nelson’s dissertation work is evaluating the chemistry of snow in long-term research watersheds at the park. Her co-authors were Kenneth B. Johnson of the Mitchell Center, David Krabbenhoft from the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton, Wis.; Cynthia Loftin from the Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit; and Kathleen Weathers from the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y.

Dianne Kopec, graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences, presented her findings on mercury contamination of harbor seals in the Gulf of Maine. Kopec has looked at whether harbor seals preferentially prey on fish that are higher in mercury, which would contribute to the sharp rise in mercury bio-magnification in seals and other top predators.

Kopec collaborated with Adria Elskus of the USGS Maine Field Office and Department of Biological Sciences; Luke Whitman, a recent graduate of the Department of Biological Sciences; and Rebecca Van Beneden of the School of Marine Sciences and Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology.

Doctoral candidate Karen Merritt and Aria Amirbahman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering displayed a poster summarizing their work on mercury cycling in the Penobscot River estuary.

Merritt’s work is focusing on the part of the river that is contaminated downstream from the former Holtrachem plant in Orrington.

Amirbahman also led a platform presentation about mercury pollution across the United States with UMaine doctoral alumnus Michael Bank from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Their talk was co-authored by UMaine alumnus Jeffrey Crocker; David Senn and James Shine from the Harvard School of Public Health; Edward Chesney and Nancy Rabalais from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium; and Jennifer Jay of University of California-Los Angeles.