Going for gold
Katie Allen, a sophomore at Poland Regional High School and a nine-year member of Girl Scouts, is working on earning her Gold Award. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award that a Girl Scout between the ages of 14-18 may earn.
The leadership skills, organizational skills, and sense of community and commitment that come from “going for the Gold” set the foundation for a lifetime of active citizenship. A requirement for earning this award is to complete a project that fulfills a need within the community and creates change.
On Saturday, May 31, from 9 a.m.-noon, Katie will be hosting a bike rally at the Raymond Elementary School. The focus will be to promote bicycling safety and to educate people on the new mandatory helmet law that requires all youth under the age of 15 to wear a helmet while cycling. With the assistance of the Raymond Fire and Rescue and several community members, the event will feature fun and educational stations.
Kids will start the day by having their bikes inspected, including tire pressure, brakes, and cables. If a helmet is owned, it should be brought to ensure it fits properly. Katie has also secured 50 helmets to give away, so each child will leave with a properly fitting helmet.
Following the checks, there will be a safety talk regarding rules of the road and safety equipment. Next, there will be a station of games where the kids can test their knowledge. A bike course using cones and having slow races will complete the day.
Mission accomplished
The seventh-graders at Jordan Small Middle School have just returned from their mission in space held at the Challenger Learning Center of Maine in Bangor.
On the mission, students worked as teams in mission control and aboard a space station, using many of the same techniques employed by NASA.
By working through the stations of the mission simulation, the students were taught valuable lessons in the importance of communication, team building, decision making, problem solving, and working as a group to achieve common goals all while using the power of applied math and science.
After returning from this extraordinary field trip, students were asked to write press releases about their experience at the learning center. Lillie Reder described the importance of the life support team. Checking the temperature, pH levels, oxygen level, air pressure and solar power on the space station is a very important job and if not done accurately, people could die.
When asked what suggestions she would make for future missions, Lillie exclaimed, “Nothing; the whole experience was awesome! It was really fun and very educational.”
This unique field trip was led by science teacher Kellie Ouellette, who hopes to bring more students to the center so they can also reap the benefits from this learning experience.
Town meeting
Mark your calendars for a very important meeting. Raymond’s annual town meeting will be held Wednesday, May 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Jordan Small Middle School.
Due to the nature of this year’s budget crunch and the likely detailed discussions, a second night of May 29 has been reserved for a continuation of the meeting if needed. The municipal budget will be discussed first and the school budget will follow.
Town elections will be held Tuesday, June 10 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. At that time, the public will vote on the town and school budgets and school choice and capping tuition. Every vote truly does matter so please be sure to attend these meetings and cast your vote.
Lucky places
By winning the seventh game in the quarterfinals Sunday, the Boston Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference finals to play the Detroit Pistons.
This is the first time since 2002 that the Celtics have made it to Eastern Conference finals. The Pistons have been there every year for the past six consecutive years. Do not be concerned; we have the luck of the Irish on our sides.
If the Celtics win the series, they will advance to the NBA Finals, which has not happened for them since 1987. This is, without a doubt, very exciting for basketball fans in New England and particularly in my household. I am, however, somewhat apprehensive about the upcoming weeks and their potential impact on my life.
Everyone who knows my husband will quickly agree that he is a wonderful person. Most would also agree that he can be a bit quirky and I suspect that quirkiness is going to be at its best in the next few weeks.
He has a deep rooted belief in good luck. He has good luck clothes, good luck coffee mugs, good luck pens and most importantly, the Good Luck Position. I have seen him stand or sit in the same position, without moving, for two or three hours just to ensure the game is won.
My favorite story is when the Red Sox and the Yankees were in the AL Championship series a few years ago. I returned home one evening, walked into the living room and the Yankees got a base hit.
He begged me to go back into the kitchen and shortly thereafter, the Red Sox got out of the inning. I went back into the living room to talk to him and this time, the Yankees scored. He pleaded with me to go into the kitchen and stay there until the game was over; that was my Good Luck Position.
I spent the next hour in the kitchen and the Red Sox won that evening and of course, advanced to the World Series.
With the recent Sox victory, I am well prepared. I am ready to spend the game nights sitting wherever is necessary to be sure the win is ours. I just hope they can get the job done in less than seven games.
Seventh-grade science students from Jordan Small Middle class engage in a space simulation while attending the Challenger Learning Center of Maine in Bangor.Send questions/comments to the editors.
