Yarmouth students pitch in for civic pride

Yarmouth High School students celebrated Earth Day by picking up more than 200 pounds of trash in town. Contributed / Gina Tansey

Yarmouth High School students teamed up this spring with Yarmouth Recycling Committee member Gina Tansey and her family to retrieve more than 200 pounds of trash from local roads. The event was planned as a pilot program with room for expansion and a way for Yarmouth residents to celebrate Earth Day and foster town pride, Tansey said. Joining Tansey in volunteering were Laney McDonough, Amelia Kostin, Fiona Bergen, Neena Panozzo, Annie Vinnakota, Colleen Lynch, Jamie Tansey, Sophie Wentzell, Sonja Bell, Aubrey Collier and Eamon Tansey.

Local youth honored for musical talents

The following local students were recognized when The Maine Music Teachers Association Pine Tree Competition winners were announced earlier this month: Early Elementary Piano, Clara Hasbrouck of Cumberland, student of Elizabeth Hasbrouck, third place; Late Elementary Piano, Sophia Turker of Falmouth, student of Elizabeth Manduca, third place; and Senior Strings, Aidan Montmeny of Pownal, student of Katherine Liccardo, first place.

Falmouth student excels in science

Adriana Rogow, a Falmouth eighth grader, has won first place in the 2021 Maine State Middle School Science & Engineering Fair. Her project was titled “Insta-depressed?: The effects of social media on middle school students.” She and two other winners will represent Maine at the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars) competition this fall.

Freeport senior named a cyber-savvy sleuth 

Arrison

Dena Arrison, a senior at Freeport High School, has been named a scholar in the National Cyber Scholarship Competition, a rigorous 48-hour online competition. Arrison earned an invitation to participate in the Cyber Foundations Academy – a multi-week online program based on the nationally recognized SANS Foundation’s training course and certification – valued at more than $3,000. She also earned a $2,500 college scholarship. She plans to attend Carnegie Mellon this fall to pursue a degree in computer science.

Arrison competed against 5,000 high school students in a cybersecurity competition designed to challenge its participants to solve computer security problems and/or capture and defend computer systems. In total, 50,000 students nationwide sought to qualify for the NCSC, with just 10% meeting the requirements.

“I am very proud to be named a scholar in the National Cyber Scholarship Competition,” Arrison said. “The competition was steep and the puzzles and challenges were really difficult. I am thrilled to be invited to the Cyber Foundations Academy to continue my cybersecurity education.”