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)

Joseph Littlefield Named Ogunquit Outstanding Citizen

OGUNQUIT—
The Board of Directors of the Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce has announced that Joseph Littlefield has been selected as Ogunquit Outstanding Citizen.
Littlefield will be recognized for his contributions to the Town of Ogunquit on Wednesday, November 3 at the Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting, which will be held at the Dunaway Center in Ogunquit.
The public is welcome to join us as we honor the man who is quick to give to people in need. Joseph is perhaps best known for his generous donation of Beach Plum Farm to the Great Works Regional Land Trust.
As one person so nicely noted, “It is a rare person who considers the beauty and environmental health of his town over his opportunity for financial gain. Current and future generations of Ogunquit residents will reap immeasurable benefit from Joe’s single act of charity.”
For those interested in learning more about attending the dinner, please contact Frances Reed at the Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce at 207-646-1279 X11, or email karen@ogunquit.org by Friday, October 29.
Photo caption: Joseph Littlefield is Ogunquit Outstanding Citizen 2010. (Courtesy photo)

Walk for Ashley: Fundraiser Celebrates Homecoming of Student

KENNEBUNK—
Ashley Dubois is an 18-year-old senior at Kennebunk High School. She is described by friends and family as “your average, all-American teenage girl,” but Ashley is anything but average.
She made High Honors for multiple semesters, competed with her dance team, Stepping Out, trained for the Maine Marathon, won a competition to participate in an Outward Bound hiking trip in Utah, worked at The BuffleHead Cove Inn on weekends, and still found time to participate in day-to-day activities with her family and friends.
On Saturday morning, September 4, Ashley pulled out of Hillside Drive on her way to work, as usual. Moments later, she was struck by a vehicle, and her life - and the lives of many friends and family - monumentally changed.
Ashley suffered severe injuries, and only recently returned from the hospital to her home on October 12. Between the medical bills already incurred, and the extensive occupational and physical therapy she will soon undergo, the Dubois family is straining to make ends meet. Their lives have been indefinitely put on hold.
In an effort to help their daughter, sister, student, and friend, local supporters are hosting “A Walk for Ashley is a Walk for Hope” at Kennebunk High School on Sunday, November 7 at 1pm. The cost is $15 per student, $25 per adult, tee shirts sold on site, and additional donations being graciously accepted. All proceeds will be deposited into a tax-exempt fund, going straight to the family.
Come celebrate Ashley’s return home, and help fund her recovery, so she can return to the life she was so vivaciously living.
For more information about the walk, email walkforashley@gmail.com, or call Ted Nichols at 207-604-8216.
Photo caption: Ashley Dubois recently returned home from hospitalization after a serious auto accident. (Courtesy photo)

Marshwood Middle School Thinks Reading is Dynamite

ELIOT—
On October 20, Marshwood Middle School made its first ever music video to express the importance of reading. The video kicks off the school-wide reading challenge.
For the past three years, students at Marshwood Middle School have begun the school year with a reading challenge. As a school, encouraging students to be lifelong readers is one of Marshwood Middle School’s major goals.
What better way to get them pumped up to read than to make a connection to their world: music. This year’s challenge theme is music genres, so the Battle of the Bands has begun.
Each of the six teams are comprised of about 100 students, and each team is challenged to read approximately 500 books. The challenge will continue until a team reaches this goal. Students are documenting the reading process by completing a bookmark as they read.
Jamie Gagner of Fusion Dance Academy in Dover volunteered to lead and choreograph the whole school (580 students and 60 adults) in a hip-hop rendition of the song “Dynamite” by Taoi Cruz. The song lyrics were changed to represent the importance of reading at Marshwood Middle School.
Students learned about their challenge and then performed a hip-hop routine, dancing and singing along.
Marshwood Middle School principal, John Caverly, warmed up the students by dressing as a hip-hop artist and explaining the reading challenge to the student body. It was an afternoon filled with music, books, and laughter.
Photo caption: Marshwood Middle School students dancing in a school-produced music video, the kickoff event for this year’s reading challenge. (Courtesy photo)

Making a Difference in Haiti

YORK —
The story of how residents, students, and Rotarians in southern Maine have helped build and support a school in Haiti will be told in a slide presentation on Friday, October 22, at 7pm at the York Public Library.
Paul Salacain of York and Amy Miller of South Berwick, who have both traveled to Haiti, will present slides showing how the Eben Ezer School in Milot, Haiti, has thrived since first South Berwick, then Kittery, and most recently, York residents have become involved. Thirteen-year-old Georgia Barlow of South Berwick, who led a student effort to raise $18,000 for Eben Ezer, also will show a short video based on her trip there.
The York Rotary Club, which donated the money for a generator for the school, sent Salacain to Haiti in August to set it up. Traveling with Life and Hope, the organization that founded the school, Salacain became part of a team that hooked up electricity so students can have refrigeration, lights, and, most importantly, computers to connect them to the outside world.
Miller, a freelance writer, has traveled annually to Milot since 2007, when her family first stumbled upon the school while living in the Dominican Republic.
Since then, hundreds of Maine residents, several schools, and three local Rotary clubs have become committed to making a difference in Haiti through the Eben Ezer School. With so many people from this area already involved in Haiti when the January 2010 earthquake struck, this community responded quickly and with great generosity.
In the two months after the earthquake, South Berwick and Eliot students and teachers raised more than $30,000 for Life and Hope. Classes at both Berwick Academy and public schools are sponsoring students in Milot.
Southern Maine residents now sponsor several dozen children at Life and Hope Eben Ezer School in Milot. The South Berwick Eliot Rotary in 2008 raised $4,300 to pay for schoolbooks for the school.
Miller’s slides will include pictures of the earthquake devastation, taken in February when she accompanied Eben Ezer School founder Lucia Anglade to the epicenter, where Anglade’s sister runs a compound for the destitute.
The York Public Library is located at 15 Long Sands Road in York, Maine. For additional information or directions, please call 207-363-2818 or visit the Library’s website at www.york.lib.me.us. For more about Life and Hope, go to www.lifeandhopehaiti.org.
Photo caption: A slide presentation will be shown at the Library about local support for a school in Haiti. (Courtesy photo)