SCARBOROUGH
Resident celebrates 90th birthday with parade
Longtime Scarborough resident Lou Doucette received the surprise of a lifetime for her 90th birthday on March 28: the gift of being surrounded by friends and family following more than a year of COVID restrictions that kept her for seeing all but one of her seven children.
Supporters – many from the Higgins Beach area – formed a surprise car parade that slowly drove by Doucette’s Piper Shores residence, waving pink pompoms and signs bearing birthday wishes. The parade was led with sirens and flashing lights from three police cars and a firetruck from Black Point Station One.
According to daughter Sheila Polkow, the presence of the first responders “really got the attention of the neighbors and made the event that much more exciting.”
Scarborough Police Sergeant Steve Thibodeau said that “in these very trying times, it is not often that our first responders get to see how much joy they bring to the community.”
Lowe’s of Scarborough further helped to set the festive scene, as three employees helped build an 8-foot by 6-foot model birthday cake, that was featured at the parade’s end.

ELLSWORTH & PORTLAND
MaineCF seeks applications for traditional handcrafts
The Belvedere Traditional Handcrafts Fund of the Maine Community Foundation is seeking applications to support projects and organizations that promote Maine traditional handcrafts. Only nonprofit and municipal organizations are eligible. New this year, due to the pandemic, the fund will offer general operating support grants only to organizations whose sole mission centers on Maine traditional handcrafts.
The maximum grant award is $10,000 for work that will begin Sept. 1 or later.
The grant application deadline is June 1.
The online application, eligibility criteria, other guidelines, and a complete list of 2020 grants are available at mainecf.org.

BLUE HILL
Young musicians invited to composition workshop
Bagaduce Music’s will offer a virtual composition workshop for music students in grades 4-12 on April 17 via Zoom.
Two workshops will be offered, with students in grades 4-8 meeting from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and grades 9-12 meeting from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Those workshops will be preceded by a 10 a.m. talk with music educator and conductor Michael Butterman, music director for the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and the Pennsylvania Philharmonic. He recently completed a 19-year association with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as principal conductor for Education and Community Engagement, and a 15-year tenure with the Jacksonville Symphony, first as associate and then resident conductor.
The workshops will be led by composer, songwriter and recording artist Joshua Jandreau, who also teaches piano in the greater Boston area.
Interested students are encouraged to upload a composition and register at bagaducemusic.org by the Friday deadline. Both finished and unfinished pieces are welcome. Upon registration, you will receive a Zoom link for the workshop. It is not necessary to submit a composition in order to benefit from (or participate in) the workshop.
All forms of composition are welcome. Audio recordings are also allowed to be submitted alongside your score. MP3, M4A, and FLAC codecs are all acceptable formats.

DAMARISCOTTA
DaPonte String Quartet Young Strings Workshop accepting applications
The DaPonte String Quartet is accepting application for a weekend workshop it will offer to aspiring high school string players Sept. 17-19 at the lakeside setting of historic Camp Kieve’s Wavus campus.
The weekend is dedicated to the study of chamber music, its preparation and performance, accessed through the great works of the string quartet literature. The final event of the workshop is a concert featuring the student ensembles.
Sixteen students will be selected by audition and organized into four string quartets. They will be coached in a round-robin style by members of the DaPonte String Quartet (violinists Lydia Forbes, Ferdinand Liva, violist Kirsten Monke and cellist Myles Jordan). The coaching sessions focus on the elements of ensemble playing: listening, communication, cueing, rhythm, intonation, blending, theory, and music history. Historical background, the knowledge that is handed down through a lineage of teaching, and the layers of meaning in the music are explored and elaborated upon.
The workshop is offered at no cost to the student. All lodging, food and tuition costs are covered.
Application deadline is June 18. Students selected will be notified by Aug. 1.
For audition requirements and more information, contact Kirsten Monke at kirsten@daponte.org. or call executive director Lisa Westkaemper at 315-7105 or email lisa@daponte.org

AUGUSTA
Camden-Rockport Middle School principal given award
Camden Rockport Middle School principal Jamie Stone has been named the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) NASSP Principal of the Year for School Year 2021-2022. She will be honored by the MPA at a virtual awards ceremony on April 29.
Stone received the award because of her extensive network of innovative community partnerships and her project-based learning vision. She has an unfailing commitment to high expectations for her students while being fully committed in supporting and collaborating with her staff and community.
“Principal Stone has a comprehensive and systematic communication style that includes all stakeholders,” said MPA Executive Director of the Professional Division Dr. Holly Couturier. “She is a progressive and caring leader committed to creating a successful environment where teachers, leaders, and students can thrive academically and emotionally.”
Stone received her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from the University of Maine, Orono in 1998 and her Masters in Administration and Supervision degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2006. She began her educational career as an 8th grade teacher and an athletic director and basketball coach at Sedgwick Elementary School in 1998; served as as a middle school math and social studies teacher at Queen Ann Private School in Prince George’s County, Md., in 1999; became an academic manager and career counselor teacher before becoming the director of Academic and Career Exploration Program’s Founding Math Teacher in 2002. She served as an educational consultant in Maryland and then was a mid-Atlantic and national school designer for expeditionary learning schools. Stone began her administrative career in 2009 when she became a middle and elementary school principal, before moving to Maine and becoming the principal of Camden-Rockport Middle School in 2014.
Additionally, Stone received the New England League of Middle Schools, A+ Administrator Award in 2016.
Mrs. Stone serves on her district’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee as well as the Educator Effectiveness Committee.

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