BIDDEFORD — Hues of pink and red in store windows signal the coming of Valentine’s Day each year as Feb. 14 approaches. Many exchange tokens of their love, including cards, flowers and candy to celebrate. Even school children often exchange valentines with their classmates. The holiday, however, did not originate at Hallmark. The day most […]

BIDDEFORD — The words of poets William Shakespeare, Adrienne Rich and T.S. Eliot, among others, rung through the City Theater on Thursday afternoon, when 17 students from high schools in Maine’s southern region recited works from the great poets, making the words their own. The City Theater was the setting for the southern Maine regional […]

Thornton Academy student Paige Meserve adjusts a microphone prior to her recitation of poetry Thursday at the Biddeford City Theater. (JEFF LAGASSE/ JOURNAL TRIBUNE PHOTO)

ARUNDEL — Thornton Academy Middle School will remain open indefinitely, Thornton Academy Headmaster Carl Stasio announced Wednesday night to a large crowd of Arundel parents. “We’re going to keep the school open, regardless,” Stasio announced to the crowd, to applause. “We will keep it open for as long as we can possibly sustain a high […]

Eric Chan, right, plays video games in the game room of the international student dormitory on the Thornton Academy campus in Saco last week; friend Johnny Xu looks on. (JEFF LAGASSE/Journal Tribune)

SACO — In a little more than one year, when the fire alarm sounds, Saco firefighters will be racing to work from a new fire station on North Street. In Tuesday’s vote, Saco voters overwhelmingly approved a bond to construct a new $6 million building for the fire department. The vote was 2,864 in favor […]

Zhiruo Hu talks about her experiences as a student in the Thornton Academy boarding program at the campus in Saco last week. (JEFF LAGASSE/Journal Tribune)

BIDDEFORD — The second project to be proposed in the University of New England’s current five-year master plan was approved by the Planning Board on Wednesday as a multi-purpose athletic field was given the green light in a unanimous vote. The field is in addition to a 300-bed residence hall that is under construction and […]

Zhiruo Hu talks about her experiences as a foreign exchange student last week at the dormitory on the Thornton Academy campus in Saco. (JEFF LAGASSE/Journal Tribune)

SACO — When Kelli Corrigan, director of Residential Life and Dean of Residential Students at Thornton Academy, welcomed back boarding students from semester break, she found students were excited to return. One even exclaimed they were happy to “come back home.” The 39 international high school students have settled in after beginning the program’s inaugural […]