Students to host Native Appreciation Day
Students from the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Native Voices group will host a day-long event meant to develop strong connections between higher education and the Native American/First Nations indigenous populations by setting aside a day on campus that focuses on their culture and traditions.
The group will host the fifth annual Native Appreciation Day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, in Wieden Hall. All interested students, faculty, staff and members of the general public are welcome to attend and participate in this free event, which is being supported by Project Compass.
About 150 people attended the first year’s event, and about 400 attended the event in 2010. Native Voices is hoping to see the event continue to grow this year. Organizers are pleased to again host a competition Pow Wow during the day’s activities.
Native Appreciation Day was conceived in late 2007 by David Perley, a councilor with the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, and a lecturer for the University of Maine, the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University. Native Voices has carried on the tradition. The event serves as a way for UMPI and the Native communities to meet, mingle and learn.
An afternoon and evening of traditional dancing competitions begins at noon with a grand entry and opening ceremonies. Registration for the dancing begins at 9:30 a.m. Competition dancing in all categories and ages will be held from 12:30-3:30 p.m. Dance categories include: Senior Women, Senior Men, Junior Girls, Junior Boys, Teen Girls, Teen Boys, Women and Men. All of these categories will have separate Traditional and Fancy/Jingle competitions. There also will be a Tiny Tots category for the youngest participants. Prize money will be awarded to first-, second- and third-place winners.
Vendor tables will be set up in Wieden during the Pow Wow competition. Also during the day, there will be presentations on Native issues from 12:30-4:30 p.m. The event caps off with an awards ceremony from 5 to 6 p.m.
A meal, sponsored by Project Compass and Native Voices, will be provided during the event.
All are invited to attend this free event and this unique opportunity to see traditional Native dancing. The vendor fee is $15 a table and the dancing registration fee is $10. For more information about this event or Native Voices, call Myrth Schwartz at 768-9792.
Walk in Her Shoes event to be held at UMPI
The University of Maine at Presque Isle invites the public to participate on Thursday, April 19, in its Walk in Her Shoes event — a walk to raise awareness and money for sexual assault and domestic violence victims. The walk will begin at the Campus Center at 2 p.m. Established in 2001, the walk has become a worldwide movement with tens of thousands of men raising millions of dollars for local rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and other sexualized violence education, prevention and remediation programs. FMI, call the Student Activities Office at 768-9582.
UMPI to hold Exotic Animal Adventures event
PRESQUE ISLE — The University of Maine at Presque Isle invites the public to attend their Exotic Animal Adventures event at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 23, in the University’s Campus Center. Those in attendance will be given an opportunity to meet, pet and hold seven exotic animals, including an owl, and will learn about climate change and wildlife conservation. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Student Activities Office at 768-9582.
UMPI to hold Walk for Autism
The University of Maine at Presque Isle will host a Walk for Autism in conjunction with the Autism Society of Maine in an effort to raise awareness and support for those affected by autism in Northern Maine. The two-mile walk will begin with registration from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sunday, April 29, in the University’s Campus Center. The walk will kick off at noon, rain or shine, with refreshments afterward. There will be resources available, face painting, popcorn, snow cones, entertainment and more. FMI, call the Student Activities Office at 968-9582.
‘30 Hour Famine’
Students from Northern Maine Community College’s ethics classes, as well as some members of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, are once again participating in a service learning project designed to engage students in an effort to lesson world hunger in their communities, in their country and throughout the world.
While some students are taking part in other service learning projects to benefit their local community, others are opting to join NMCC instructor Eric Pelkey by taking part in a 30 Hour Famine for Hunger sponsored by World Vision. For over 20 years World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine for Hunger has raised awareness and money to fight hunger both overseas and in the United States. Participants will go without food for 30 hours to experience what the poorest children and families face every day.
Right now, over 925 million people across the globe are without enough to eat every day, leaving thousands of children under age 5 to die daily from disease and malnutrition as a result of hunger. But world hunger is preventable and efforts like this can help make a difference.
“The 30-Hour Famine is an excellent real-world application of the principles and issues discussed in the ethics courses. In both PHI 111 and PHI 201, students learn about the virtues of moderation and charity, as well as the important role that empathy plays in making moral decisions,” said Pelkey. “This project is important not just for raising money and awareness of this ongoing problem, but also because the fast provides participants the chance to experience what hunger really feels like.”
Pelkey and the other participants will be fasting on April 26-27. At the conclusion, participants will gather for a modest lunch and a discussion about their experience.
Community members who want to support the fight against world hunger can mail a check, made payable to World Vision, to: Eric Pelkey, Northern Maine Community College, 33 Edgemont Drive, Presque Isle, ME 04769.
Supper to benefit NMCC dining services employee
There will be a benefit supper in support of county resident, friend and colleague Frank Labbe in the Reed Dining Commons at Northern Maine Community College Friday, April 20 beginning at 5 p.m.
Labbe, a Caribou native and active Elks Lodge member, is currently receiving needed medical treatments. Labbe graduated from the college in 1986, earning a degree in automotive technology. While attending school, Labbe was a work-study student for the college’s campus dining services, ultimately beginning his career and dedication to the students and employees at NMCC for more than 30 years.
“Frank has been the heart and soul of the dining services for many years. Any time you run into him on campus he always has a smile on his face,” said Krissy Williams, NMCC senior business administration student. “He has provided the NMCC campus and those hosting events here with friendly, professional and passionate service. This is the opportunity for people to make a difference and to give back for what he has done all these years.”
The community is invited and encouraged to attend this benefit. Donations will be accepted at the door, which opens at 5 p.m. The menu for the evening will consist of spaghetti, garlic bread, Caesar salad, and an assortment of desserts.
During the supper there will be a 50/50 raffle, along with a raffle for a garden basket. There will also be an opportunity for those in attendance to help in creating a quilt for Labbe. They can design a block with a unique message, send him a get-well wish, or draw a funny picture to make him smile.
Creative Writers Reading Series continues at NMCC
The public is encouraged to join Northern Maine Community College in the celebration of both Community College Month and National Poetry Month. NMCC is hosting a Creative Writers Reading Series to be held in the Edmunds Library during the month of April. Each week a noontime session will feature a guest writer, as well as students from the college.
The reading series, which began April 11, will continue Wednesdays, April 18 and 25. Each session begins at noon and lasts for about an hour. Students who are in the Creative Writing class at the college will each participate by briefly reading their own original work, followed by a guest speaker. The guest speaker for the day will read a passage from their published work and then answer questions about the work, their experiences as a writer, or other areas of interest the audience members may have.
“Maine is fortunate to have a wide range of talented writers,” said Jan Grieco, NMCC instructor and coordinator of the reading series. “I am impressed with the number of professional writers who are willing to share their writing styles and experiences with the public and students attending NMCC.”
The April 18 reading will feature poet and artist Melissa Crowe. Crowe’s poems have appeared in the Atlanta Review, Calyx, the Crab Orchard Review, and the Seneca Review, among other journals. She was the winner of the Betsy Scholl Award in 2011 for her poem “The River.” Crowe earned her master’s in fine arts degree in poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and her Ph.D. in English at the University of Georgia. She sits on the editorial board of the Beloit Poetry Journal and teaches American literature and writing in the online English program of the University of Maine at Presque Isle. She lives in Portland with her husband and daughter.
Non-fiction writing will be the theme for final session in the series on April 25. The featured artist will be Jen Blood, who writes across the genres. Blood, who was born and raised in midcoast Maine, is a freelance writer and editor with writing credits in Down East, The Bark, Pif, and a number of newspapers, websites and periodicals around the country. Her novel “All the Blue-Eyed Angels” was just released. It is a fictional Biblical/occult murder mystery that takes place on the Maine coast. Blood holds an MFA in creative writing/popular fiction from the University of Southern Maine and does seminars and one-on-one tutorials on writing, editing and social media for authors.
After each of the sessions, the featured guest writer will be speaking to students in Grieco’s Creative Writing class. They will critique her students’ work, share with them the process to becoming a professional writer, and discuss where they receive their inspiration from, as well as answer any other questions the students may have.
This is the fifth Creative Writers Reading Series at the college. With each year students and guest speakers have changed, but the intent remains the same.
“Each year the students get to showcase their talent to the public and professional writers,” said Grieco. “Most of the students who take this reading series seriously do go on to pursue professional writing careers. It makes me happy, since I enjoy writing so much, to see students from this college have careers in professional writing.”
