Portland Mayor Kate Snyder with Eric and Keenan Welzel of Maine Recreation and Design, who worked with Miracle Play Equipment to install and oversee the construction of the Talbot Inclusive Playground. Contributed / Portland Public Schools

Talbot school gets inclusive playground

Gerald E. Talbot Community School celebrated its new community playground, designed for youngsters of all abilities to enjoy, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Talbot Inclusive Playground on Nov. 6. The handicapped-accessible area includes a climber and inclusive swings. The playground at 1600 Forest Ave. in Portland is accessed via a ramp and accessible pathway perimeter and was open in time for the first day of school on Sept. 14.

Telling Room welcomes emerging authors

The Telling Room’s 2020-2021 Young Emerging Authors include students from several local high school that were chosen to write and publish standalone books in the Telling Room’s intensive year-long writing program.

Maya Denkmire is a senior at Casco Bay High School who is writing a novel about the summer Emma Robinson and her siblings realize their seemingly idyllic childhood was marred by an unspeakable incident that forever changed Emma’s younger brother.

Sofie Matson, a senior at Falmouth High School, is writing a sharp social-political satire about the CIA recruiting a teenage girl to help catch foreign data-miners on the video-sharing platform ClickClock.

Lily Oldershaw, an 11th grader at Windham High School, is working on a young adult novel about 13-year-old Mainer Macy, who discovers an unlikely confidante for her feelings about the new girl at school and her mother’s unexplained death.

Lerman Abdoulkader Waiss, a sophomore at Yarmouth High School, is writing a book of lyrical fiction about a Muslim woman facing her childhood experiences with religion, family, sexuality, education, abuse and trauma as a young girl growing up in Djibouti.

SMCC to host virtual open houses, info sessions

Southern Maine Community is holding a series of virtual open houses, high school visits and informational sessions for prospective and accepted students to learn about SMCC and its academic programs.

The admissions office will offer open houses grouped by academic division starting Dec. 1 and ending Dec. 8 to provide information about the admissions process and financial aid. Also featured will be breakout sessions with faculty from different academic programs. Included will be public safety, applied technology, health science and business and information technology programs of study.

The admissions office will also be setting up informational sessions with high schools so students can meet with SMCC admissions counselors remotely.

Self-guided tours on the SMCC campuses can also be arranged. Buildings are closed, but visitors can walk around outside using a map to get a feel for SMCC’s South Portland and Brunswick campuses.

To sign up for virtual open houses and learn more about other SMCC programs, see the SMCC Connect/Visit webpage.