Greely history buffs are national winners

Four of the six Greely Middle School students who participated at the national level for the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland won awards – including a national first prize.

Eighth-graders Matthew Gilbert and Don Strawbridge won first place for their Junior Group Documentary entitled “From Conflict to Compromise: How a Negotiator from Maine Brought Peace to Northern Ireland.” The documentary can be viewed at https://youtu.be/SgrGbTboXQ0.

Seventh-grader Connor Albert won the Lee Allen History of Baseball Award  national special prize for his Junior Individual Documentary about Jackie Robinson, entitled “To Enrich the Future, Not to Avenge the Past: How Jackie Robinson’s Compromise with Branch Rickey in Major League Baseball Led to Robinson Joining the Conflict of the Civil Rights Movement.”

Lucie Noonan, who is in sixth grade, won the prize for the Outstanding Entry from the Maine NHD Affiliate for her Junior Individual Exhibit entitled “Conflict, the Death of Four Little Girls, and Justice Compromised: The 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing.”

The national contest is the final stage of a series of contests at local and state/affiliate levels. The top two entries in every category at the state/affiliate level are invited to the national contest. 

There are over 650,000 National History Day entries worldwide, with groups also coming from Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and international schools in China, Korea and South Asia.

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Cumberland Gold Award Scout will go down in history

Erin O’Donovan, of Cumberland, is a Gold Award Girl Scout and was recognized at Girl Scouts of Maine’s G.I.R.L. Celebration at the Waterville Opera House on May 12.

“Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award is an outstanding accomplishment, and these young women exemplify leadership in all its forms,” said Joanne Crepeau, CEO, Girl Scouts of Maine. “They saw a need in their communities and took action. Their dedication, perseverance, and leadership is making the world a better place.”

O’Donovan earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, for her project “Preserving the Oral History of Cumberland, Maine.” Focusing her lens on the town’s one-room schoolhouses, she captured 14 residents’ stories on audio, and incorporated the audio clips into a web page she secured for the Cumberland Historical Society on town’s website.

“Cumberland Schools Through the Ages” provides a summary of the history of the schools, a map, photos, and the audio clips from her interviews. She also coordinated with her district’s second-grade teachers to incorporate her project into their curriculum.

The Girl Scout Gold Award is a rigorous achievement for girls in grades nine through 12, and requires a minimum of 80 hours of work. Gold Award Girl Scouts demonstrate extraordinary leadership through remarkable take-action projects that must have sustainable impact in their communities and beyond.

Recent Falmouth grads win ‘Arrive Alive’ contest

Falmouth High School graduates Alison Noyes, Caroline Keller and Teagan McMahon were named winners of the 14th annual Arrive Alive Creative Contest sponsored by the Law Offices of Joe Bornstein. The contest asks students to come up with a creative message about the dangers of drinking and driving and/or distracted driving.

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All three winners entered paintings depicting how the decisions drivers make can endanger and impact the lives of passengers and pedestrians. The Falmouth students were among the top 20 winners statewide at an award ceremony on June 13.

First-place winners receive a new laptop and second and third-place winners receive a new iPad. Since 2004, over 800 graduating seniors have entered the contest from 120 Maine high schools.

In the past 14 years, the Law Offices of Joe Bornstein has given away over $130,000 in prizes to help educate teenagers on the risks of dangerous driving. The firm’s dedication to the Arrive Alive Creative Contest it a finalist for the American Association for Justice Trial Lawyers Care Award in 2014.

Noyes

Keller

Eagle Scouts Jackson Rollins, left, and Parker Rollins and Life Scout Camden Rollins were awarded their faith’s Boy Scouts of America Religious Emblem, Ad Altara Dei, on June 2 by Fr. Daniel Greenleaf of the Parish of the Holy Eucharist. The sons of Noel and Gina Rollins, of Yarmouth, the boys are members of Troop 35, charted by the First Parish Congregational Church of Yarmouth and part of the Casco Bay District and Pine Tree Council.

Greely Middle School students Matthew Gilbert, left, and Don Strawbridge won first place in their category in the National History Day competition for their Junior Group Documentary.

O’Donovan


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