10th Annual Veterans’ Day Celebration

ELIOT—
On November 5, Marshwood Middle School commemorates its Tenth Annual Veteran’s Day Celebration. The school-wide assembly, which starts at 9:00 a.m., features various tributes from students and faculty to local veterans. Last year, over 200 veterans attended the celebration. Several veterans are from local American Legion and VFW posts. Many veterans invited are relatives and friends of Marshwood students who have served our country past and present.
Local dignitaries including town officials and selectmen, local politicians, state representatives, school board members, and members of the South Berwick, Eliot, Kittery and Berwick police, fire and emergency departments also attend the celebration to honor the veterans.
All guests form a reception line at 8:30 a.m. down the corridor to the entrance of the gymnasium. As students are called down to the celebration, they enter the reception line and greet our guests with handshakes and small talk. The reception line emphasizes a personal touch for every student to actually meet our guests and sets a respectful tone for the celebration.
As everyone gathers in the gymnasium, patriotic music is played on the sound system. Once everyone has been seated, the veteran guests enter the gymnasium. For the next hour, various tributes are presented to guests in form of song, poems, readings, and PowerPoint presentations.
Marshwood Middle School is made up of six communities (two per grade level). Each community presents a tribute at the assembly. Teachers work with students in their communities, and this celebration could never occur without their collaboration. After the celebration, there is a reception in the library for guests and faculty.
It is extremely important for students to understand the sacrifices our veterans have made and continue to make for our country. This celebration encourages us to stop and realize again that “Freedom is never free.”
For more information about this event, contact Catherine Locke at cclocke@msad35.net. Marshwood Middle School is located at 626 H. L. Dow Highway, Eliot.
Photo caption: Veterans lining up for last year’s Veterans’ Day Celebration at Marshwood Middle School. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the school-wide assembly. (Courtesy photo)

Berwick Academy to Circulate Kindles

SOUTH BERWICK—
Berwick Academy is proud to announce that the Jackson Library has become the first school in Maine to circulate Amazon Kindles to its faculty, staff, and Upper School students.
The Kindle is a portable electronic reading device, which uses the latest technology to deliver a unique reading experience. The school will carry six Kindles, which were purchased for the library by the Technology Department, the Berwick Academy Parents Association, and the BA Administration. The availability of the Kindles has several advantages to the Berwick community, including the immediate access to any number of titles including books the library does not carry.
The Kindles will be loaded with hundreds of books, including popular fiction and non-fiction bestsellers. In addition to these titles, millions of out-of-copyright titles are available for free download via the web through organizations like Open Library, Project Gutenberg, and Internet Archive. Currently available on all six Kindles are titles like The Host by Stephenie Meyer, Bob Dylan in America by Sean Wilentz, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and multiple works by Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, and Edgar Allan Poe. It is the goal of the librarians to ensure that the collection grows, evolves, and responds directly to student needs.
Upper School Librarian Darcy Coffta commented, “We are thrilled to be the first school in the state of Maine to circulate Kindles and to have this opportunity available for the Berwick community. Upper School students will be able to come to Jackson Library and check out a Kindle for two weeks. Reading on a Kindle can be a lot of fun and it greatly increases their immediate access to the written word. I see it being used for both research purposes as well as for leisure reading.”
Founded in 1791, Berwick Academy is an independent, coeducational country day school located in South Berwick, Maine. For over 200 years, the Academy has pursued its mission through a purposeful blend of strong academics, arts, and athletics. Berwick serves nearly 580 students in grades K-12 from the seacoast area of southern Maine, New Hampshire, and northeastern Massachusetts.
Photo caption: Berwick Academy students with two of the six Kindles now available to students and staff, making Berwick Academy the first school in Maine to circulate Kindles. (Courtesy photo)

Maine Recycles Week at Hannaford Market

KENNEBUNK—
The Kennebunk Energy Efficiency Committee (EEC) and the Kennebunk High School Green Club, eKo, will be celebrating Maine Recycles Week with exhibits, workshops and films at Kennebunk’s Hannaford Market from November 10th through the 13th.
On Saturday the 13th, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. there will be two workshops in the morning and the same two in the afternoon--along with a variety of videos--in the old Starbucks area adjacent to the Red Box.
George Herman, Master Gardener, will be speaking on the how-to’s of composting and taking questions on the subject during his presentations at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Herman, a graduate of the College of Forestry at Syracuse, is a member of the York County Master Gardeners and on the board of the York County Cooperative Extension. Herman will also show “Turning Your Spoils to Soil,” a how-to film on compositing.
Suzanne Duplissis, Recycling Outreach Coordinator for the Maine State Planning Office for Waste Management and Recycling, will present at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Duplissis educates the Maine public on recycling through social media, print and television outlets and manages the matching grants for recycling promotion for municipalities. In addition to her talk and Q and A session, Duplissis will show the documentary film “Re: Think Re: Cycle,” which gives insight into the origins of our products and their various methods of disposal.
On Wednesday through Friday, November 10th, 11th and 12th, from 3 to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 to 4, the EEC and eKo will have an exhibit showing which plastic bags and film should be recycled and which should not. The eKo students will also be displaying clothing made from recycled goods.
Educational information on recycling and composting will also be available. Other freebees include pens and pencils made from recycled products and informative refrigerator magnets, while the supplies last.
Anyone bringing five empty, clean plastic grocery bags to the EEC table, will get one free Hannaford cloth bag, while the supply lasts. The exhibit will be set up next to the Camden National Bank branch in Hannaford Market.
Photo caption: Members of the Kennebunk High School eKo are shown in the KHS cafeteria holding the reusable tableware they purchased with a grant from Hannaford Market. The eKo students made the signs shown here, color-coded for tableware, bottles, compost and trash. From left: Emily Flaherty, faculty advisor, Amanda Sparks, Hannah Rolland, Faye Heisch-Lewis, Beth Ash, Emily Mokler, and Stephanie Conzelman, co-advisor and member of the Energy Efficiency Committee. (Courtesy photo)