C.L. “Mike” Rauch was elected earlier this month as the fifth commandant of the Mid-Coast Marine Corps League Detachment 637. Also elected to league positions were Stanley Sergeant, senior vice commandant; John Upham, junior vice commandant; Roland Knapp, judge advocate and veteran affairs. The league is involved in providing community services, burial details and support for the Toys for Tots program.

State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron has appointed Patrick Phillips of Camden as deputy commissioner. Phillips has served as assistant superintendent of schools in the Five Town Community School District-SAD 28 (Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport) since 2001. He succeeds Judy Lucarelli.

Phillips also worked in the region from 1984 to 1990 as director of the Community Service Corps Project in Camden, manager of the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History at the University of Maine and as coordinator of special projects for the Maine School Management Association.

The Maine Campground Owners Association recently awarded Joshua Bennoch of Bar Harbor a $500 scholarship. This is the ninth consecutive year that a Maine resident pursuing a career in outdoor recreation has received the scholarship.

The scholarship was awarded this year in memory of the late Dorothy LaBonte, a longtime member of the association. LaBonte’s family owns and operates the Abnaki Family Camping Center in Madison.

The award is based on scholastic and employment records, extracurricular activities and financial need.

N. Joel Moser of Belfast is one of 76 students from 63 U.S. colleges and universities to be selected as a 2003 Truman Scholar. The Bowdoin College junior will join his fellow 2003 scholars at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Mo., on May 25 to receive his award.

Truman scholars are elected on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability and likelihood of “making a difference.” The 76 scholars were chosen from among 635 candidates nominated by 305 colleges and universities across the country.

Moser is majoring in government and legal studies and German at Bowdoin. He is studying in Berlin, Germany, where he is researching European perceptions of President Bush’s war on terror.

Each Truman Scholarship provides $30,000: $3,000 for the student’s senior year and $27,000 for graduate study.

Scott Crocket, son of Midge and Mark Boshko of Ellsworth, and Hendrik Lenferink, son of Jan Lenferink of Penobscot and Mary Offutt of Little Deer Isle, have been named 2003 Distinguished Scholars at Liberty High School in Blue Hill.

As Distinguished Scholars, both students are eligible for full four-year scholarships at the University of Maine.

Two seniors are recognized as Distinguished Scholars each year.

The honor is similar to being named valedictorian, but is based on criteria such as quality of work, willingness to be challenged intellectually and emotionally, in-depth pursuit of interests and the ability to act as a role model, instead of grade-point average.