BIDDEFORD

Students take first place at business challenge event

Students from the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology recently placed first in Junior Achievement’s Ninth Annual Business Titan Challenge.

Sixty-two teams and 186 students in Maine competed in the daylong business simulation that capped Entrepreneurship Week.

Biddeford High School students Jeremy Lugiano, Lucas Rhoy and Josh Dutremble finished first in the Southern Maine region and fourth place statewide.

The event challenges students to apply their knowledge of business as they compete online in the industry of the fictional Holo-Generator. Students enter decisions about price, production, marketing, capital investment, and research and development. The impact of their decisions will lead to the success or failure of each Holo-Generator company.

The six rounds of competition contain successive levels of economic conditions that require student teams to brainstorm about how to navigate their business through those conditions successfully.

Thirty-two students brought into technical honor society

Thirty-two students at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology were inducted into the National Technical Honor Society on March 16.

The NTHS honors the achievements of top career and technical education students from Biddeford, Old Orchard Beach, Kennebunk and Saco; provides scholarships to encourage the pursuit of higher education; and cultivates excellence in today’s highly competitive skilled workforce. The standards to which the students are measured include: a minimum of a 3.0 GPA in school and current enrollment in a career and technical education program; a teacher recommendation; an essay on character; good attendance and discipline records; and involvement in extracurricular activities.

Student honorees included Dana Abdulhay, Hanna-Leigh Adams, Cassidy Gonneville, Kaitlyn Gonneville, Mikayla Guay, Kirsten Lebreux, Thomas Little, Patrick Michaud, Megan Pelletier, Lily Williams, Rebekah Guay, Ngan Ho, Erica Leland, Trang Nguyen and Madison Perry, all of Biddeford High School; Rebecca Beveridge, Ebony Dukes, Michael Howard, Michael Howard, Abigail Ouellette, Jessica Patterson, Libby Pomerleau, Codie Ramos and Faith Sinclair, all of Thornton Academy of Saco; Jenny Cobb, Zach Maksut, Sydney Pettey, Sadie Barbaria-Harris and Morgan Berry, all of Old Orchard Beach High School; and Christopher Hannon, Ben Nunan, Jocelyn Rocray and Samantha Witkus, all of Kennebunk High School.

WELLS

Anna Kendrick donation reaches technology teacher

Wells Elementary School technology teacher Marty Cryer recently received a donation of technology equipment from actress and Portland native Anna Kendrick as part of the DonorsChoose #BestSchoolDay crowdfunding campaign.

Kendrick, whose films include “The Twilight Saga” and “Up in the Air,” donated $570 for the purchase of a hive of six Bee-Bots, a type of computer coding robots, and other accessories benefiting Cryer’s fourth grade classroom. The actress also chose to fund 30 other school projects at schools in Maine as part of a flash mob of 58 celebrities, athletes and philanthropists who paid out a combined total of $14 million in a day to fund half of all educational projects from 11,000 classrooms listed on DonorsChoose, an educational crowdfunding organization.

Although Cryer had previously raised $270 for the purchase from friends, relatives and visitors to her Facebook page, she lacked the hundreds more needed to secure the equipment.

“Students absolutely love coding,” Cryer said. “With the Bee-Bots, they are using an amazing array of thinking skills to practice academic skills. The robots are cute and a lot of fun to use. Students learn so much, but don’t even realize it.”

Along with the Bee-Bots, Cryer’s classroom will receive a carrying case and a charging pod for all six units.

School committee to host proposed budget hearing

The Wells-Ogunquit Community School District School Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2017 school budget at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Cafè room at Wells Elementary School.

This is an opportunity for the public to comment on the proposed budget, which is available at www.k12wocsd.net or by calling the superintendent’s office at 646-8331.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH

Town manager recognizes staffer with staff award

Town Manager Larry Mead recently presented Recreation Department staffer Nicole Welch with a Young Professional Award, recognizing her talent and professionalism as a key individual in advancing the growth and mission of the department.

Since joining the Recreation Department in September 2012, Welch has developed or has taken responsibility for several programs for youth and adults that have flourished under her direction.

Attendance at summer camp programs has increased under Welch’s direction and now emphasize outdoor and environmental themes designed to introduce children to experiences that are both fun and healthy. Welch also has started new after-school programs such as Minecraft, holiday treats cooking classes, polar kids and the track and running club. She also has been responsible for a monthly newsletter that is mailed and provided to all participants.

Last year, Welch planned and coordinated a new “Winter Wonderland Walk,” which featured a traditional storybook walk along a wooded path with Christmas lights and other decorative features.

BRUNSWICK

Firefighters graduate from officer training program

Twenty-one Maine firefighters have completed rigorous training from the Maine Fire Service Institute’s Officer Training Academy to prepare them for leadership roles at fire departments across the state.

A graduation ceremony was held March 19 at the Maine Fire Service Institute on the Southern Maine Community College Midcoast Campus. The institute is a department of SMCC and provides training and education services to Maine’s firefighters.

The weeklong training focused on legal issues, budgeting, media relations, conflict resolution and other topics that are part of the job for chiefs and other fire officials.

FALMOUTH/CAMDEN

Women’s fund awards grants totaling $111,400

The Maine Women’s Fund has awarded Economic Security Initiative grants, totaling $111,400, to several organizations that work to build the economic security of Maine women and girls.

Grants include those from donor-advised funds, established by individuals who make recommendations as to what organizations receive grants. Those organizations serve a broad range of ages and geographic locales and apply innovative solutions to critical problems faced by women and girls throughout Maine.

This grant cycle included more than $40,000 in funds from the Karen Moran Leadership Fund for Women and Girls to ensure that women and girls of all backgrounds have access to opportunities to reach their full potential.

The Maine Women’s Fund 2016 Economic Security Initiative grant recipients include: A Company of Girls, which uses arts-based curriculum to empower and mentor underserved girls to become successful adults and community leaders; Family Crisis Services Peer Parenting Program for Incarcerated Mothers, that utilizes a peer support model to facilitate relationships between incarcerated mothers and their children at the Maine Correctional Center; Four Directions Development Corporation Building Assets for Community Financial Wellness, a nonprofit community development financial institution offering free financial education workshops, tax preparation services and budget and credit counseling to Native American women in Maine; Hardy Girls Healthy Women Girls Advisory Board, providing opportunities for girls to thrive through leadership development and engagement in social action; Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project Keeping Women Safe, providing representation to victims of domestic violence and trafficking to help survivors find safety and gain legal status that leads to economic security and community engagement; Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center Gaining Access Project, to help uninsured or underinsured women with lower incomes access preventive reproductive and sexual health care, improving their health and economic security; Maine Women’s Policy Center, advancing ongoing efforts to improve the economic well-being of Maine women and girls; Islesboro Community Center, education and training programs including leadership training, self-defense classes and community education to help to build resiliency for island women and girls; ROiL dba Maine Inside Out Transitional Employment and Mentoring Program, theater-based reintegration and transitional employment program for young women recently released from Long Creek Development Center; Spurwink: Promoting Resilience in Refugee & Immigrant Girls, a school-based, skill-building group for English language learner girls in third through sixth grades in Lewiston and Portland who are struggling at school; Waldo County General Hospital Healthy Smiles, Better Future, an initiative of Waldo County Dental Care to deliver, critically needed preventive and restorative oral healthcare for uninsured, low-income women; and Wayfinder Schools Passages Program for Teen Parents, increasing the high school graduation rates of teen parents in Maine who are enrolled in Wayfinders’ home-based high school diploma program which is focused on academic, life and parenting skills.

ROCKLAND

City Council supports effort to restore headstones

The City Council recently voted unanimously to support a joint project by the Lady Knox Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR members from California and Nevada and a local Vietnam-era veterans group to restore headstones at Tolman Cemetery on Lake Avenue.

The local DAR chapter, which serves as agent for necessary funds for the project, recently was awarded $5,000 in matching funds from the city, effectively boosting the campaign to the halfway mark of the $20,000 fundraising goal.

The Tolman Cemetery Project is a multi-phase initiative to preserve and restore the graves of Revolutionary War veterans. The project is an extension of work begun in the 1930s. In 1947, the Maine State Organization of the DAR, supported by the Lady Knox Chapter, the WPA, the American Legion of Maine and Judge E.K. Gould, honored 21 Revolutionary War soldiers buried at Tolman with a bronze plaque at the cemetery entrance.

Lady Knox members are launching a major fundraising campaign to correspond with the City Council’s matching funds grant. They are encouraging descendants of those interred at Tolman Cemetery, area historic and veterans organizations, and all citizens of Rockland and Knox County to donate to the project.

Tax deductible donations for the chapter’s Tolman Cemetery Project can be made to Lady Knox Chapter DAR and sent to Lady Knox Treasurer, 1044 Finntown Road, Warren, ME 04844. Please note Tolman Project on your check.

PORTLAND

Catholic Foundation names 2016 scholarship winners

The Catholic Foundation of Maine announced that Jacob Bussiere, a senior at Saint Dominic Academy; Catherine Sinclair, a senior at Cheverus High School; and Madeleine LaBrecque, a senior at Catherine McAuley High School, have been named recipients of the 2016 Lila Grace Sullivan Amirault Scholarships to help pay for their first year of college tuition.

The scholarships annually are given to one student from each of the diocese’s three Catholic high schools.

Catholic Charities awards $18,550 to local parishes

Catholic Charities Maine’s Parish Social Ministry has awarded more than $18,550 to six local parishes from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to help fund community-based initiatives.

The mission of the parish CCHD grant is to support community-based initiatives that are strongly engaged by the local Catholic parish to solve community-wide problems.

The parishes and ministries receiving funds include $4,000 to St. Brendan the Navigator in Camden to start a new educational ministry focused on self-sufficiency in conjunction with the population of people they serve at their soup kitchen; $3,550 to St. Kateri Tekakwitha of Calais, to offer six seminars for 600 people to provide free meals in conjunction with educational sessions; $4,000 to St. Mary of the Visitation in Houlton to utilize the food pantry to access people in need to work on budgeting, connecting with a financial mentor as well as healthy eating; $2,500 to St. Michael’s in Augusta and St. Rose of Lima in Jay to work with the Kennebec Valley Organization to work on systemic change in their communities; and $2,000 to St. Paul the Apostle Parish, in Bangor, to build a house for a low-income family.

SACO

Women’s group accepting scholarship applications

The Women’s Educational and Industrial Union is accepting applications for two $1,000 scholarships that are open to graduating seniors from Thornton Academy or Old Orchard Beach High School.

Students who plan to further their education at a two-year or four-year college may apply.

Applications and additional information is available in the guidance departments of each school. The deadline is April 8.

For more details, call Barbara M. Prentiss at 937-8110.