SafeBAE summit draws hundreds to S. Portland

SafeBAE in Portland set out to make high school history on May 22, when a one-day summit for students was held at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland.

SafeBAE was co-founded in 2015 by the subjects of the Peabody Award-winning Netflix documentary, “Audrie & Daisy.” Having suffered sexual assaults in high school, the co-founders became driven activists and peer-educators, and have been building a team of high school activists around the country.

According to Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, approximately 7.1% of Maine high school students report they have been physically forced to have sexual intercourse and 9.9% report having been forced to have sexual contact in any way in their lifetime.

With support from the national organization, 10 committee members ages 14-18 from four southern Maine schools spent over a year planning, fundraising and recruiting for the event. Local and national agencies and experts presented throughout the day, along with celebrity ambassadors Chicago Med actress Torrey DeVitto and NFL linebacker Reggie Walker.

The team recently won a $10,000 award from US Cellular’s 16 Under 16 – Future of Good to bolster their efforts. Southern Maine Community College partnered with them to provide space for the event, with attendees from over a dozen area schools and participants traveling from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

“This is an issue that affects literally every single high school and many middle school students, and we aren’t waiting for our administrations to do something about it anymore, “Aela Mansmann, Cape Elizabeth freshman and committee chair, said. “We are educating ourselves, our friends and our younger siblings so that we can change our own school cultures. We face the highest rates of harassment and assault of all ages, and if we wait until college to talk about these issues, it will be too late.”

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Five students from Maine College of Art were honored by Maine Ad + Design for creative excellence statewide when MCA’s biennial Broderson Awards ceremony was held May 9. Kristen DeVico, Ozi Ozbicerler, Kiana Thayer, Bria Hughes and Ann Finkel competed with over 30 other students from around the state by submitting creative work representing any type of advertising or marketing and were each awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

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First girl named Handy Andy scholarship winner

Grace Stacey is the first female recipient of the “Handy Andy” Lano Scholarship Award, earned as the outstanding senior student-athlete at Portland High School.

“The Lano Family Foundation … is thrilled, honored and proud to name Stacey as the first female to receive the award,” Andrew Lano said in a news release.

“When we created the award in 2012, it was important to be consistent with Title 9, ensuring an equal chance for all,” Lano said. “Grace is a special young lady and we look forward to helping assist her with ever-inflating college costs.”

Stacey will use the $10,000 scholarship to help with secondary education costs at Wheaton College. She will be honored on July 28 at the Lano Family Foundation golf fundraiser, the “Action Andy” Memorial Classic, at DuneGrass Golf Club in Old Orchard Beach. The day raises scholarship funds, as well as the other benefactors supported by the Lano Family Foundation, including Boys & Girls Club, Maine State Golf Association & Glaucoma Research.

Students from four area schools comprised the planning team for SafeBAE Portland, the local chapter of a national organiation fighting youth sexual assault. The team planned a summit in May that drew hundreds of students from across New England.


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