Bath student wins Municipal Association Essay Contest

A middle school student from Bath was one of three winners in the Maine Municipal Association’s sixth annual statewide essay contest, which carried the theme: “If I Led My Community …”

Emma Beauregard, who attends Damariscotta Montessori School, and students from Athens Community School and Veazie Community school will each receive a certificate and a $250 prize to be used for educational purposes. The awards will be bestowed by municipal officials in their hometowns.

Winning entries also will be published in the May issue of the Maine Townsman, MMA’s monthly publication, which is mailed to 4,400 municipal officials statewide and posted at www.memun.org.

Part of MMA’s Citizen Education program, the contest asked students to demonstrate how they would improve their hometowns and cities if they held positions of local leadership. Essays were submitted from seventh-grade students across the state. Essays were judged based on knowledge of municipal government, writing quality and clarity, and originality.

MMA’s Citizen Education program aims to educate citizens of all ages about the importance, accessibility, and effectiveness of municipal government. The essay contest, and high school curriculum developed in 2011 with Jobs for Maine’s Graduates, have the dual purpose of educating young people about local government and encouraging them to get involved as future elected or appointed officials, or as municipal employees.

Founded in 1936, MMA is an organization to which 486 municipalities in Maine belong. Services include advocacy, education and information, professional legal and personnel advisory services.

Students banked on playoff tickets

During this year’s playoff season, Brunswick High School’s girls’ basketball team, which played in the Class A state finals, received a donation from Camden National Bank. Over the past few weeks, Camden National donated over $10,000 to provide tickets for over 2,100 high school students to attend and cheer on their boys’ and girls’ hockey and basketball teams as they competed in the state championship tournaments. The concept of the campaign was developed over eight years ago, by an employee who recognized a void for students to gain access to large school and community events.

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