The Bucks’ Wrath – From the Classroom to the Playing Field

April 2nd through 10th is National Robotics Week, a time to focus attention on this exciting, interdisciplinary component of computer science. In Maine public schools, robotics comes to life in a variety of ways. From our high school students participating in robotic competitions, down to the youngest elementary student programming robots to follow a sequence, robotics is a grassroots effort that can be found in many schools, some of whom will be spotlighted throughout this week. National Robotics Week, dating back to 2009, has a simple mission – “to inspire students in robotics and STEM-related fields and to share the excitement of robotics with audiences of all ages.”

This first story highlights the perseverance and ingenuity of The Bucks’ Wrath (Team 6329*), from Bucksport High School (BHS). The idea to form a robotics club was born in a first year “Introduction to Engineering” class, co-taught by teachers John Boynton and Mike Gross back in 2017. Being afforded the opportunity to go to a local competition in 2017, and then the FRC World Championship in St. Louis with the financial support of their school, community, and donors, sparked students’ enthusiasm in robotics to grow. BHS soon added classes about Machining, Engineering, and Computer-Aided Design (CAD), which helped the students develop the knowledge and skills to compete. Donations of a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) router and mill from Bucksport graduate, Andrew Silvernail, and his wife, Shelby, helped grow the team’s capacity. Sadly, that initial group of freshmen, now seniors, only enjoyed one strong showing at a competition before the 2020 season was suspended.

Team members sporting their Penobscot Narrows Bridge themed t-shirts at community presentation.

The 2021 season was also without in-person competitions, but the Infinite Recharge at Home challenges allowed the team, mostly freshmen and sophomores, to demonstrate their skills in a new way. While working through the challenges of a hybrid school model, the team decided to build a new bot from the ground up. As Team 6329 shared videos of their progress, they could see other teams using their methods, which motivated the team further. By the end of the season, their robot ranked in the top 20 in the world and ranked second in its shooting ability.

The 2022 season finally allowed The Bucks’ Wrath to return to the carpet and compete. In addition to their robot’s skills in competition, the team as also recognized with the Entrepreneurship Award, thanks to a business-minded senior who’s marketing and financial efforts set the team up for future success. The Bucks’ Wrath performed strongly after a lengthy layoff from competition, ending the first day as the top qualifying team and performing well through the playoffs on the second day. An unfortunate turn-of-events saw their three-team alliance lose in the finals. True to their character, the team has continued to work and improve as they head to their second event in Durham, New Hampshire.

Fourteen Maine teams headed down to the NE District Pease ANG Event and Bucksport High School was the smallest of the schools sending a team. Again, they performed well in qualifying (coming in 4th) and were picked second overall for an Alliance captained by Orange Chaos (Team 4564) out of Brewer and the Blue Devils (Team 6324) from Salam, New Hampshire. Their Alliance went all to the way to the finals before falling to a formidable Alliance of B.E.R.T. (Team 133) from Bonny Eagle, Infinite Loop (Team 2648) from Messalonskee and captains The Crushers (Team 238) from Manchester, New Hampshire. Despite the loss, The Buck’s Wrath is currently the top ranked Maine team in the NE District at seven overall. The Buck’s Wrath also walked away with the Excellence in Engineering Award as well for the first time since 2018. Coach John Boynton said, “It is a lot of fun representing a small rural school in Maine against the best New England has to offer.”

The Bucks’ Wrath are currently ranked 7th in the NE District after two finalist showings this season.

If you would like to follow The Bucks’ Wrath, check out their Facebook page or their Youtube channel. To learn more about opportunities for Robotics in Maine schools, check out Robotics Institute of Maine (RIM). For information about computer science in Maine schools, please check out the Maine Department of Education’s Computer Science page. If you have a robotics success story at your school, email jonathan.m.graham@maine.gov.

* team numbers are given in order of creation, so The Buck’s Wrath is the 6329^th team to become part of FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition).

2022 Maine State Science Fair Brings Together Talented Young Researchers from Across Maine

Pictured (L to R): Ogechi Obi, a student from Bangor High School with James Crowley, a judge from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Students were thrilled to be back together in person to share their science and engineering projects at the 2022 Maine State Science Fair, held on Saturday, March 26, at Colby College.

This year’s Grand Award winners, who will represent Maine at the Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair are:

First Place: Cuthbert Steadman of Bangor High School. Cuthbert’s engineering project used computer programming to create an inexpensive and non-invasive blood glucose monitoring and automatic insulin injection system.
Second Place: Emma Markowitz, a homeschooled student from Boothbay. Emma experimented with a non-invasive approach to treating White Line Disease in horses using poly-wrap and manuka honey.
Third Place: William Xu of Bangor High School. William developed a computer program that uses medical imaging to better diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.

The full list of awards, including over $875,000 in college scholarships and $1,800 in prizes from local and national organizations, is available on the Maine State Science Fair website.

Emma Markowitz, Boothbay

Nataly Fitzpatrick, Nokomis Regional High School

Amber-Rae Pesek of Hancock County Technical Center in Ellsworth

Ruth Havener, Medomak Valley High School

The event convened 144 students from 22 high schools and two home schools. Another dozen students participated virtually.

“After two years of virtual events, we’re glad we can give students a chance to meet each other and share their ideas and passion for STEM,” said Stefany Burrell of Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance. Laura Muller, her counterpart at The Jackson Laboratory, commended the students for their resilience, creativity, and perseverance as the event drew to a close. The two organizations were the presenting sponsors of the Fair.

For more information about the Maine State Science Fair visit the website.

Foreign Language Association of Maine Announces Recognition Awards

As part of its work to promote and improve the teaching and study of languages and cultures of the world, the Foreign Language Association of Maine (FLAME) recognizes Maine educators and students annually for their outstanding work in a number of areas including student recognition, leadership, lifetime achievement, and their two teacher of the year awards, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Teacher of the Year and FLAME Teacher of the Year. They recently announced their 2022 award recipients.

FLAME Student Recognition Award

Sam Conner Self is a talented senior at Bangor High School, currently enrolled in AP Spanish: Language & Culture. However, they also study ASL at Bangor High School and German at the University of Maine at Orono. Their academic pursuits after school include Spanish Honor Society, Spanish Club, Math Team, Theater, Civil Rights Club and Young Democrats. Beyond these extracurricular activities, Sam has shown leadership in their roles as: Social Media Director of Students for Gender Equality, Co-president of Q+ Club, and co-organizer of the Maine Youth Power Voter Education Campaign at BHS.

They intend to study psychology with a minor in at least one language in college and envision creating a community center that provides counseling and other services from multilingual psychologists rather than solely relying on interpreters.

Richard Williamson Leadership Award

This award is given to a teacher, administrator, student, or community member for outstanding results in promoting the study of modern and classical languages in their community or region.

Skip Crosby has been a dedicated Spanish teacher in Maine for 29 years at the high school level, with nine years at the college level. His excellence in teaching has been recognized over the years, but especially in 2014 and 2015, as Androscoggin County Teacher of the Year and FLAME World Language Teacher of the Year.

Skip is well known for his dedication to supporting his teaching peers in a variety of ways. He is a true leader by welcoming other teachers and graduate students into his classroom without hesitation. Most significantly, he has coordinated the TCI Maine Conference since 2006. This “Teaching with Comprehensible Input” conference provides meaningful and accessible professional development to teachers across New England by inviting nationally and internationally recognized experts on TPRS and CI.

Sister Solange Bernier Lifetime Achievement Award

This award was named after a well-loved and well respected French teacher, whose career spanned more than six decades. It recognizes the career-long accomplishments of those who are approaching retirement and who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and leadership throughout their careers as modern and classical language teachers.

Susan Dana of Cape Elizabeth Middle School is this year’s recipient. She is a National Board Certified Spanish Teacher who has been a language educator for 39 years, 30 of which have been in Cape Elizabeth. In the late 1990s she started the Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program in Cape Elizabeth. In 1996 she was the FLAME teacher of the year, and she has been the recipient of numerous grants and scholarships, including a Fulbright Teacher Exchange to Uruguay in 2013. Susan has led service trips through Safe Passage in Guatemala with Cape Elizabeth High School students, and has engaged her students in many social justice projects and endeavors. Her students have participated in events such as Global Collaboration week, Journey North, and connecting with Peace Corps Volunteers. She also helped her students develop community and global connections with projects such as bookmarks for the public library, decorated grocery bags for the supermarket, valentines for hospital patients, pen pals, the Peace Corps’ World Wise School Program, video exchanges with Spanish speaking students, and a “New Mainers: Hear our Story” Program.

English Speakers for Other Languages (ESOL) Teacher of the Year

Farrah Giroux of Westbrook School Department was selected based on her demonstration of leadership in the field of ESOL, both on the board of Northern New England TESOL, serving terms as treasurer, vice president, and president, and locally in her community at Westbrook Middle School where she holds the position of Instructional Leader for the ELL Team. Farrah is a champion for educational equity, promoting an asset-based orientation, high expectations, and equitable opportunities for students learning English. Farrah skillfully leverages the WIDA English Language Development standards to bring principles of equity into practice for herself and the colleagues she supports.

FLAME Teacher of the Year

Each year at its annual conference, the Foreign Language Association of Maine (FLAME) recognizes those who have achieved outstanding results in teaching modern or classical languages.

This year’s recipient is Deb Backman from Cony High School. Deb is not only a fantastic language teacher, but an asset to her school community. Deb has served on the League of Innovative Schools Leadership Team, her District Curriculum Mapping Leadership Team, and was a class advisor for many years. At the state level, Deb has served multiple times as President of the Maine Chapter of American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), Webmaster and Treasurer. Since 2015 she has organized the annual Maine AATG Awards Tea at the Blaine House which recognizes German language students’ achievements, including on the National German Exam. Deb also helps organize an annual student immersion day (Sprachfest), in conjunction with German faculty at Colby College and co-organized several annual week-long K-16 Deutsche Woche in Bar Harbor immersion seminars for educators from the entire US.

She has served on the most recent Steering Committee for the review of the Maine State Learning Results for World Languages and currently serves on the Maine DOE World Language Advisory Council. As a result of Deb’s hard work, Cony High School is one of 13 German Government-designated US PASCH partner schools and serves as a beacon for other German programs. Her students have studied food waste with German entrepreneurs who started a zero packaging store in Berlin, worked with a German technology company who taught students to program mini-computers, and with a German singer/songwriter to write and produce an original song.

To learn more about FLAME’s awards visit their website. For further information, reach out to FLAME.

School Nutrition Teams from RSU 54 and RSU 12 Square off at First Regional Event of Maine DOE Farm to School Cook-Off

The RSU 12 Palermo Panthers and RSU 54 Team Son-day squared off in the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) first regional Farm to School Cook-off on March 23rd. The competition was held at the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center and is the first of three regional competitions that will take place this month, sponsored by the DOE’s Child Nutrition Office.

The school teams, consisting of one school nutrition professional and one student, were tasked with creating a breakfast and lunch meal using three local ingredients, including buckwheat flour as the breakfast “challenge” ingredient and beets as the lunch “challenge” ingredient, as well as one USDA food.

Mike Flynn and Ben Bragg from the Palermo Panthers cooked up a breakfast “paco”, which consisted of egg and cheese rolled into a buckwheat flour pancake.

Gina Bailey and her son Caleb Pratt from Team Son-day whipped up a breakfast flower waffle using buckwheat flour, and presented their dish in the shape of a flower with fruit as the pedals and stem. Both teams created a beet smoothie, using a kid-friendly approach to a less familiar vegetable.

RSU 54 breakfast flower waffle

Gina and Caleb from RSU 54

For lunch, the Palermo Panthers made “muchos tacos” using various proteins, served on top of a homemade buckwheat flour tortilla, with a beet/carrot slaw on the side. Team Son-day cooked grilled chicken with red flannel hash, a buckwheat biscuit, and heart shaped watermelon on the side.

Gina handing her breakfast plate to the judges

Team Son-day, who has been competing in the cook-off for several years, walked away with the win. They dedicated this event to their late mother and grandmother, and the dishes were specially crafted with her in mind.

A great day was had by all! Following two more regional cookoffs set for March 29th and March 31st, RSU 54 will advance, along with winning teams from the remaining regional cookoffs, to the finals round which will take place at the Child Nutrition Culinary Classroom on April 26th.

Easton Elementary School Offers Students a Book Vending Machine

Easton Elementary School Principal Erin Ireland and Easton School Department Business Manager Kim Hall discovered a fantastic idea to both generate excitement about reading at the elementary level, and promote being a good citizen and role model.

Every time a student at Easton Elementary School is seen going above and beyond their abilities, or are caught doing a good deed, their teacher administers an “Inchy Token” for the Inchy’s Bookworm Vending Machine. They then call home to deliver the good news of their reward, and are brought to the book vending machine to deposit the token and bring home a free book. This has immediately ramped up excitement for reading, and is further instilling the desire to be a good citizen.

“This creative program has been a huge success in our elementary school,” said Easton School Department Superintendent Mark Stanley.

Biddeford High School Pi Guy is Back

It’s early March at Biddeford High School and just like pre-pandemic years, the Pi Parody has returned. Since 2007, Jon Jacques, a Biddeford High School math teacher, has been rewriting the lyrics to popular songs in an attempt to entertain current and former students. Once a year Jacques celebrates Pi-Day (March 14th) with his classes, and shares his yearly creativity on social media.

For many songs, Jacques has grabbed the microphone and recorded the songs himself, and for others he has relied on the Biddeford Singers, the school’s top vocal group. After a hiatus in 2021, Jacques wanted to really make an impact. For the first time, in a display of school unity, Jacques sang with the Biddeford Singers for this year’s song, and the Jazz Band played the music for the track and video. Some of his most popular renditions include “The Pi Memorizer” to Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”, Pi-Rational Rhapsody to Queen’s mega hit, and I Will Know Pi to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”.

This year, he has gone to the archives and is proud to present “I Learned About the Number Pi” (a fun take on Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”.

Personal side of Pi Day 2022: Pi-Guy gets his crown

Over the years I have done a few noteworthy things to celebrate pi day personally. I have shaved my goatee into the pi symbol and shaved pi into my hair a few times (symbol and digits in separate years). I have sculpted a 5 foot tall pi symbol out of snow and written pi in the snow more times than I can remember. How to top all of that was the question that I have had on my mind for a while. This year I no doubt have done that. I shaved my head completely and visited Eye Of Henna tattoo in Portland for a temporary tattoo of pi. The driving force behind this was of course some shock value. While my favorite day of the school year drew nearer, I thought I could really have an impact on things if I tied my antics to a fundraiser. So I decided to do just that. With so many good causes out there I thought it would be fitting with my new “henna pi crown” that it goes to someone fighting cancer so I chose a colleague’s husband as the beneficiary.

Here is the YouTube link: Pi-Guy gets his crown

MSAD 11 Highlighted Nationally for Addressing Gaps in Learning Opportunities with ARP ESSER Funds

Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 11 is highlighted in the White House Fact Sheet for how it is using American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) Funds to target gaps in student learning.

MSAD 11 is addressing gaps in learning opportunities by using ARP ESSER funds to hire nine new teachers and implement a new math, language arts, and social studies program.

The additional teachers permitted the district to reduce class sizes from 22-24 students to an average of 14-16 students. The district has provided external and internal coaching, ongoing professional learning, and planning support to educators and staff.

Check out their story here:

Brownville Elementary School Hosts Dr. Seuss “Book Tasting Event”

In conjunction with Dr. Seuss’s birthday recently, Brownville Elementary School held a “Book Tasting Event” for their 3rd and 4th grade students. Organized by Title I Teacher Miss Ivy Stanchfield and Librarian Mrs. Jeannine Lavigne, students were invited to a “5 Star” restaurant to sample an appetizer, main course, and dessert in the form of books!

When they were done sampling, the students were able to take home books to keep courtesy of our Three Rivers Kiwanis, who supplies books for all K-8 students in the MSAD 41 school district.

“The kids had a blast,” said Carol Smith, Brownville Elementary Principal.

Bangor High School Civil Rights Team Creates Calendars to help Celebrate Diverse History and Culture

Bangor High School’s Civil Rights Team has been hard at work this year, collecting materials to help their community celebrate African American History Month, Women’s History Month, and beyond. They recently created several calendars of content, including picture book read aloud stories to help elevate and celebrate diverse stories and cultures.

To put the calendars together, the group researched other calendars featuring content relating to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and content that would align to the mission of the Civil Rights Team Project.

“When it came to the ‘Celebrating Black Stories’ calendar, we looked specifically for videos featuring the author or illustrator doing the read aloud as a way of preserving authenticity,” said Stephanie Hendrix, English Teacher and the Civil Rights Team Advisor at Bangor High School. “We also looked at a number of different book lists for recommendations, and we paid close attention to the Coretta Scott King award winners.”

The information was collected from various sources in the hopes of creating resources that are user friendly for teachers and students in their school community, to help them think and talk about issues related to race and skin color, national origin and ancestry, disability, and gender.

Here are a few of the February and March calendars but the group has calendars for the other months as well:

BH Civil Rights Team Celebrating Black Stories - Feb

BH Civil Rights Poem of the Month - February

PDF versions of the calendars and other relevant activates to help celebrate:

“The students on my team and I understand how important it is that everyone feels safe and welcome in our school community, and one way we can help people feel not only included, but also celebrated, is by finding opportunities for them to be seen – whether through the stories we read and bring into the classroom, the poems we share that speak to the human experience, or the calendar events that help us understand that our normal may not be everyone else’s normal,” said Hendrix. “Ultimately, we don’t know what we don’t know, and the research that the Civil Rights Team has been doing to collect and curate these materials has helped us all learn more about just how diverse our school community is and just how important it is to see and celebrate everyone’s complex humanity.”

To learn more about starting a Civil Rights Team in a Maine school, visit the Maine Attorney General’s website or reach out to Project Director Brandon Baldwin at brandon.baldwin@maine.gov or sign up for their newsletter. To get copies of the other calendars, reach out to Stephanie Hendrix at shendrix@bangorschools.net.

Forest Hills School 5th & 6th Graders Learn about Career Aspirations Through Maine College Circle

Rick Wilson and Martin Mackey from the Maine Department of Education Office of Innovation were in Jackman, Maine recently collaborating with Maine College Circle Executive Director Bob Stuart as he presented to 5th and 6th graders at Forest Hills School in SAD 12.

His message revolved around career aspirations and the Maine College Circle’s ongoing process to inform and inspire early aspirations, to empower the youth of rural Maine, to build a brighter future for themselves, and for their communities.

Since 1992, Maine College Circle has been talking with rural Maine elementary school students about their opportunities to build a brighter future. They help them understand the value of continued education beyond high school and help them explore their educational opportunities. To learn more about Maine College Circle and Bob’s great work, visit https://www.mainecollegecircle.org/.