Maine Academy of Modern Music announced Jan. 11 that Patia Maule has been named its 2020 Maine Music Educator. Contributed / MAMM

MAMM names educator of year

Faculty member and registrar Patia Maule has been named the 2020 Maine Music Educator by Maine Academy of Modern Music (MAMM). Maule was chosen after helping MAMM successfully navigate through a transition caused by the pandemic.

“First and foremost, Patia is a tremendous teacher and her students absolutely adore her,” Executive Director Jeff Shaw said. “(H)er guidance, ingenuity and determination to develop, implement and train our staff on a brand new remote learning platform that she helped to build in real time allowed the MAMM community to stay connected through music when it was needed most. Our business simply would not have survived this pandemic without her, and for this reason the MAMM Board of Directors and I are thrilled to name her as our 2020 Maine Music Educator.”

Upcycle Challenge is on

Following the success of its inaugural Upcycle 2020 Challenge, ecomaine will continue its upcycling invention contest for students to compete for a $500 prize for their school’s green team, STEM club or Project Graduation.

Last year, the challenge saw entries such as hair scrunchies made from old clothing, furniture made from old tires and movie projectors made from all kinds of would-be junk materials. The Upcycle Challenge invites students to find items that would normally be thrown away and create an all-new, super-useful invention from them.

“The first year was even more successful than we could have hoped,” said Matt Grondin, ecomaine’s communications manager. “And while we realize that schools are challenged by the pandemic and uncertainty, our aim this year is to provide an activity that promotes creative thinking about our waste materials, and that can be achieved with teachers’ support, no matter the setting.”

Students will have until March 19 to unveil their upcycled inventions by sending their submissions as a document, photo or video to ecomaine.org. Finalists will be selected by popular vote on social media by Earth Day, April 22.

Dollars for scholars

The New England Newspaper and Press Association awards up to 10 scholarships each year to aspiring journalists through the Journalism Education Foundation of New England. Applications are open through March 12. College students or high school seniors who are studying and acquiring work experience that will prepare them to work in the field of journalism are eligible to apply. For more information contact Linda Conway at l.conway@nenpa.com.

Qualified Mainers are invited to apply for the Maine State Society of Washington, D.C., Scholarship program. The society was founded in 1894 as a home to displaced Mainers in the D.C. area and offers funds ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 to full-time students who completed at least one year of undergraduate courses at a four-year institution of higher learning in Maine. Submissions are due on the anniversary of Maine’s statehood on March 15; see mainestatesociety.org.