Briefs

SOUTH PORTLAND
Teacher to march in Rose Parade
Jen Fletcher, an elementary school band director from the South Portland School Department, has been selected to join band directors from across the country in the 2022 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade on New Year’s Day 2022 in Pasadena, Calif.
The theme for the 2022 Rose Parade is “Dream, Believe, Achieve,” celebrating education’s ability to open doors, open minds, and change lives. A custom-designed animated float will lead a “marching band of band directors” 275 strong, from all 50 states and Mexico.
A 2016 graduate of the University of Maine, Fletcher started teaching in the Sacopee Valley School District and joined the South Portland Music Department in September 2018. She is an alumnus of the South Portland music program and, in addition to teaching beginning band to 170 Grade 5 students, she is a member of the SPHS Marching Band staff, and a member of the Production Staff for the SPHS musical theater program. Fletcher will march in the Rose Parade to honor the band directors who were instrumental in helping her achieve her dreams: Christopher White, Craig Skeffington, and Jean Quinn.

PORTLAND
AARP Maine announces winners of Andrus Award
Greene residents Joyce and Carl Bucciantini are the winners of AARP Maine’s 2021 Andrus Award, the organization’s most prestigious honor, recognizing people who make a difference in the lives of others.
Noël Bonam, AARP Maine State director, stated “We are deeply proud to be presenting this year’s award to Joyce and Carl Bucciantini, whose record of achievement, service and commitment provides an excellent example of the power of giving back to others.”
The Bucciantinis received multiple nominations for the award based on their ‘can do’ spirit, willingness to try new things and excellence in service and the inspirational way they encourage others to invest in their communities.
The Bucciantinis are longtime educators. Carl taught grades three and four in the Maine School Administrative Districts of Dexter, Garland and Exeter for 10 years and served 21 years as an elementary and middle school counselor in the Auburn School Department. He serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Maine Education Association Retired (MEA-Retired) and is a member of the AARP Maine Volunteer Executive Council.
Joyce served as an Elementary Enrichment volunteer coordinator for six years in Seward Alaska and was a middle school language arts teacher in Auburn for 20 years. She is a tutor and tutor trainer for the Androscoggin Literacy Volunteers and chairs the Delta Kappa Gamma Read to Me program in the Lewiston-Auburn community.
The couple are dedicated volunteers with AARP Maine, hosting Lewiston-Auburn coffee “klatches,” virtual On-Taps, legislative roundtable discussions and they serve as vibrant members of the all-volunteer AARP Maine Tuesdays at the State House corps.
AARP Maine staff, volunteers and local members celebrated the Bucciantinis during the annual volunteer recognition celebration, held as a virtual event this year.

PORTLAND/FALMOUTH
Nonprofit receives $10,000 for grief support
Portland’s Center for Grieving Children has been awarded a $10,000 donation to provide grief peer support services to 10 children for an entire year at no cost to families. The funding was raised after community members matched at $5,000 donation by Falmouth’s National Housing Insurance Group through the 2021 Liberty Mutual and Safeco Insurance Make More Happen awards program.
The center is a nonprofit dedicated to providing a safe space, loving peer support, outreach, and education to grieving children, teens, families and the community of southern Maine.

CAMDEN
Bank’s sweepstakes winner gets $5,000
Briana Bartlett of Vinalhaven is the grand prize winner of Camden National Bank’s eight-week fall “Choose It. Use It. Win It.”
Bartlett won $5,000 in November for using her debit card during the sweepstakes’ promotional period. In addition to the grand prize, Camden National Bank awarded 40 $100 prizes to customers over an eight-week period, totaling $9,000 in prizes.

AUGUSTA
Students win video competition encouraging vaccinations
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), in partnership with the Maine Department of Education (DOE) announced the winners of the video competition for Maine children to encourage COVID-19 vaccination.
The contest invited Maine youth, ages five to 17 to submit 30-second videos that they believed would encourage other children, along with their parents, to get vaccinated.
The first place winners included sophomores Renée Morin and Olie Saywell, junior Hunter Roberts (who created an original score), and senior Ian Kruger (camera operator) of The New School of Kennebunk.
Spencer Michalski, a homeschooled eighth grader from Columbia, place second. And sixth grader Natalie Waters, of Lincoln Middle School in Portland, placed third.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is promoting the winning videos on social media.
Additionally, first-place winner The New School will receive $50,000; second place winner, Michalski, selected Downeast Audubon as the nonprofit to receive the $25,000 second-place prize to fund summer camp scholarships; and third-place winner Lincoln Middle School will receive $10,000.
Schools can use the winnings to supplement school meals with healthy treats; purchase playground, classroom, gym, sports, or music equipment; enhance a special school activity; or support a school field trip for all students.
Over 50 submissions were reviewed by a committee comprised of DHHS, CDC and DOE staff members. The selection criteria included originality and clarity of the message, consistency with public health information on youth vaccination, and potential to reach unvaccinated groups, among others.

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