St. Michael School students distribute over 200 baskets to community members in need

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Before settling into their seats for a Thanksgiving meal with family and friends, the eighth-grade class at St. Michael School, in Augusta, wanted to ensure that less fortunate people in their community would be able to enjoy the same experience.

On November 19, the eighth graders helped distribute over 200 Thanksgiving baskets, most prepared by the students themselves, to local community members in need. The distribution took place inside the school gymnasium.

Individuals in need of assistance this Thanksgiving were asked to call the Salvation Army to reserve one of the special baskets, each containing all the fixings for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Parishioners, community members, and the school community had donated boxes and boxes of food in recent weeks.

A blessing for the recipients, but an honor for St. Michael School to bring cheer to many.

“Our students learn the importance of service and caring for our neighbors on a daily basis,” said Denise Levesque, marketing director at St. Michael. “We are proud to make this Thanksgiving special by delivering baskets and smiles to many individuals and families who otherwise might not have the resources to enjoy this holiday.”

“I suggested to all of the students that they make something like this an annual tradition,” said teacher Mary Dionne. “Reaching out and helping others in our community who may not have as much as you will make a lasting impression. As crazy as things get this time of year, acts like this are what they will remember all their lives.”

The entire student body at St. Michael gathered at St. Mary Church on Tuesday, November 20, at 9 a.m., for a special Thanksgiving prayer service which was led by the fourth graders. The students brought non-perishable food items to the service for the local food bank.

Vassalboro, Winslow: Before/After program receives gold recognition

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From left to right, Laurie Lizotte, administrator and Samantha Bernatchez, director of operations, recently were recognized for their outstanding collaboration with the 5210, Let’s Go! Program for Out-of-School Programs. (Contributed photo)

5210 Let’s Go!, introduced in 2012, is committed to promoting policy and environmental changes at child care programs, schools, out-of-school programs, health care practices, and workplaces. The program’s multi-setting approach, daily 5-2-1-0 message (five or more fruits and vegetables, two hours or less of screen time, one hour or more of physical activity and zero sugary drinks) and 10 evidence-based strategies are used to effect change across the state of Maine. Strong leadership from The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center and collaboration across health systems and community health coalitions contribute to the program’s success.

5210 Let’s Go! awards bronze, silver and gold awards to programs who support and collaborate with them around healthy eating and increased physical activity. A Bronze award reflects a site’s implementing the program’s five evidence-based priority strategies. Silver acknowledges a site that has communicated these changes to parents and family members. Gold, the highest level of recognition, is reserved for sites that have written all five priority strategies into policy or have school staff participate on the district’s wellness committee.

Winslow police drive nets food for local school pantries

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The successful food drive

Submitted by Mark Huard

Over the last month and a half, the Winslow Police and Parks & Recreation Department have been collecting food donations for the Winslow School Department’s Food Pantry Program. As we know, there are families that are struggling even in Winslow, and they depend on the school to provide at least one solid, healthy meal a day. However, when school is not open during the weekends or vacations, many students go hungry.

Last year the Winslow Police Department collected gifts for families that were unable to purchase Christmas gifts. This year they elected to help out the entire family but providing needed food that anyone in the household could benefit. The food drive was extremely successful with so many people stopping by to drop off food, toiletries, checks and gift cards. The records room was so stuffed that the records clerk had to suspend moving end of the year records. Having a problem like this is not a real problem, but a wonderful problem to have.

At the end of the food drive, they needed a full-size van and truck to transport all the supplies to the high school. There it will be separated and moved to the other schools. This minor gesture of community service will serve so many in need.

Fight the Freeze campaign to help local children to stay warm

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Donations of new mittens and gloves requested by January 9 by Kennebec Federal Savings

Kennebec Federal Savings’ second annual “Fight the Freeze” campaign is underway. If you would like to help less-fortunate Waterville-area children stay warm this winter, you are encouraged to donate new, children’s-sized gloves or mittens from now until January 9, 2019.

Please drop off your donations at Kennebec Federal Savings branches, located at 70 Main Street, in Waterville, and 11 Washington Street, in Waterville. Items collected will be distributed to children from January 14 through 18, 2019, at the George J. Mitchell and Albert S. Hall schools, each of which has requested 100 pairs of mittens/gloves. Excess donations will be distributed to other Waterville-area children in need. For more information, please call 873-5151.

Submitted by Dave Carew, Freelance Book Editor / Publicist / Copywriter.

Attendance matters at China Middle School

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by Mandi Favreau

Building positive relationships is a key component of the district-wide attempt to improve attendance and address chronic absenteeism. At China Middle School, fostering stronger connections with students and families has been the core component of their strategy.

For obstacles such as illness and injuries, the school nurse contacts families with the goal of keeping communication open and getting students back to school as soon as appropriate. Other attendance obstacles, however, require a more complex solution.

“We have seen a shift in the number of students with anxiety and mental health issues in the past several years,” said Principal Lois Bowden, “which has impacted attendance.”

Instead of sending them home if an issue arises, CMS staff has used weekly team meetings and 504 meetings to develop individualized plans for absent students. For example, one student who suffered from anxiety was provided access to a preferred staff member that they could check in with if they were feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

Perhaps the largest obstacle to attendance is misconceptions about the value of attendance. CMS is addressing that with a multi-pronged approach. JMG continues to be a resource to provide support for students who may be chronically absent. In addition, CMS has further developed their advisory program to focus on team building activities, guided lessons and academic support. Advisors have also been working to strengthen connections with the families of their advisees to keep everyone on the same page.

The school also has a new position that has been hugely instrumental in increasing attendance.  The Student Support Specialist, Doreen Armour, tracks attendance, calls families when students become chronically absent, and most importantly, builds relationships with students who might otherwise not be getting social and academic support. She also helps build reentry plans for students who have been chronically absent to help them return to school.

The initiative has already been a success in terms of reinforcing connections with students and their families, according to Principal Lois Bowden. “It has opened the lines of communication between school and home,” she said. “We are able to make a plan and work together to help support the child, which has resulted in positive outcomes.

Unity College professor earns Fulbright Scholarship for brown bear research in Slovenia

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Dr. Jack Hopkins to look into conflict behavior in bears

Dr. Jack Hopkins

Bears and humans aren’t known for always seeing eye to eye. Sure, the two species can have positive encounters, such as bear sightings at a safe distance in the northern Maine woods. Human-bear interactions, however, can turn nasty very quickly, ranging from the more benign end of the spectrum where bears commandeer human food, agricultural crops, or livestock, to more harmful incidents where people get hurt.

It’s these interactions that are the focus of Unity College Assistant Professor of Wildlife Biology, Dr. Jack Hopkins’ latest research project titled Development of a Multi-method Approach to Study Wildlife Behavior: Investigating Human-Bear Conflicts in the Contrasting Landscapes of Europe. For Dr. Hopkins’ Fulbright Scholarship, he and researchers from the University of Ljubljana will use a large collection of tissues (muscle, liver, hair, and teeth) sampled from roughly 800 bears in Slovenia and Scandinavia over the course of roughly 25 years to investigate human-bear conflict.

“It’s a really great opportunity to work with my partners,” said Dr. Hopkins, noting that Fulbright Scholarships offer only about 20 percent of applicants the chance to either teach, conduct research, or do a combination of both. For the spring semester, Dr. Hopkins earned an award to focus strictly on research, leaving Maine for Slovenia at the end of December with his wife and four children.

“I’m also really excited about the opportunity for my kids,” he said. “Having the chance to live and go to school in Europe has the potential to really change their lives. It’ll be a great family adventure.”

Slovenia has one of the highest-density bear populations in the world, which is in part due to the country’s interest in harvesting them twice a year, using supplemental corn feed to maintain their thriving population. Dr. Hopkins will work with genetic and isotopic data from bear tissues to investigate their reliance on corn, how their diets affect their reproductive success and survival, and how conflict behavior develops in the first place.

“I want to congratulate Dr. Hopkins on this incredible honor, and I can’t wait to see the results and conclusions that his research produces,” said Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury. “Here at Unity College, we emphasize experiential education for our students, but it’s important to also encourage our faculty to pursue opportunities like this. In turn, they will pass down those experiences and inspire our students in the classroom and in the field.”

Although the research project focuses on Slovenia’s brown bear population, Dr. Hopkins believes the issues, in many ways, are similar here in Maine.

“Brown bears feed on corn in Slovenia like black bears feed on doughnuts and other bait in the fall in Maine,” Hopkins said. “In both places, baits are used to help control population numbers and meet the needs of hunters. Although baiting is controversial in Maine, it is the most successful method used to harvest bears. The concern is that if these artificial food sources are removed from the landscape, harvest numbers will decrease, and human-bear conflict will increase with bear density, which obviously has huge management implications in both Maine and Slovenia.”

For more on Dr. Hopkins’ research, visit jackhopkinswildlife.com.

China Masons host celebration

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China Masonic Lodge’s Christmas Celebration (contributed photo)

On Sunday, December 9, 2018, the China Masonic Lodge hosted its annual Christmas Celebration and fundraiser for the Maine Children’s Home Christmas Program. Over 80 people attended the celebration and enjoyed a great meal, family games and activities, and visiting with family and friends from the community. The children (and adults) very much enjoyed the special guest that stopped by to visit. Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and Rudolph. Thanks to everyone’s generous donations, the Maine Children’s Home Christmas Program received a truckload (literally) of presents to help serve over 1600 needy Maine children at holiday time.

Christmas at the Masons contributed photo)

Erskine presents Renaissance awards 2018

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Seniors of the Trimester, front row, from left to right, Kassidy Wade, Ellie Hodgkin, and Amber Holmes. Back, Peyton Houghton, Jack Jowett, Hagen Wallace and Cameron Falla. (Contributed photo)

On Friday, December 14, Erskine Academy students and staff attended a Renaissance Assembly to honor their peers with Renaissance Awards.

Recognition Awards were presented to the following students: Grace Kelso, Emma Hutchinson, Madyx Kennedy, Kelby (Austin) Young, Delaney Ireland, Jacob Sutter, and Ricky Winn.

In addition to recognition awards, Senior of the Trimester Awards were also presented to seven members of the senior class: Amber Holmes, daughter of Jacob Holmes and Naomi Caywood, of Palermo; Ellie Hodgkin, daughter of Helen Emonds and Dana Hodgkin, of Manchester; Cameron Falla, son of Karen and Michael Falla, of Palermo; Peyton Houghton, daughter of Heather and Shawn Houghton, of China; Kassidy Wade, daughter of Robert and Jamie Wade, of Vassalboro, and Storm and Bradley Kelso, of Vassalboro; Hagen Wallace, son of James Wallace, of Augusta, and Andrea Ando-Albert, of Manchester; and Jack Jowett, son of Tracey and Jeff Jowett, of Windsor. Seniors of the Trimester are recognized as individuals who have gone above and beyond in all aspects of their high school careers.

In appreciation of their dedication and service to Erskine Academy, Faculty of the Trimester awards were also presented to Megan Childs, Consumer and Family Education instructor; Sonia Stevenson, Foreign Language instructor; and Lars Jonassen, Athletic Department Assistant, Coach, and retired Math instructor.

Faculty of the Trimester (from left to right): Megan Childs, Lars Jonassen and Sonia Stevenson. (Contributed photo)

Square dancers elect officers

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Bob Brown, of Newport, president; Becky Potter, of Fairfield, treasurer; Jeff Howes, of Pittsfield, vice president and Karen Cunningham, of Pittsfield, secretary (Contributed photo)

The Central Maine Square Dance Club of Waterville recently held its annual business meeting with its election of officers. Elected were Bob Brown, of Newport, president; Becky Potter, of Fairfield, treasurer; Jeff Howes, of Pittsfield, vice president and Karen Cunningham, of Pittsfield, secretary. Beginner classes will be held in January. Contact Bob at 447-0094 or Cindy at 631-8816.

Poulin earns Eagle status

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State Representative Mike Perkins (left) and Senator Matthew Pouliot (right) present Dawson Poulin, of Sidney, with a Legislative Sentiment. (contributed photo)

On Saturday, December 1, State Senator Matthew Pouliot (R-Kennebec) and Representative Mike Perkins (R-Oakland) attended an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for Dawson Poulin, of Sidney, and presented him with a Legislative Sentiment. A member of Boy Scout Troop #401, Dawson has attained the rank and distinction of Eagle Scout, the highest award in Boy Scouting which is given for excellence in skills development, leadership, personal growth and community service.