Veazie Community School, a public PreK-8 school that currently serves 146 students has received an incredible gift from a major retailer. Music teacher Mike Arell received an e-mail in February from Rachel Stelline, Manager of the Bangor Walmart Supercenter. It stated that the Veazie Community School music program would be receiving a $30,000 grant from Walmart Corporation. When he saw the amount, Arell thought that the message was too good to be true. To his great surprise, the information, including the amount, was all accurate.

At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, Superintendent Matthew Cyr and Arell had discussed ways to expand Veazie’s music program. This meant a particular focus on having enough high quality instruments and equipment so that interested students could participate fully in music ensembles, whether they owned an instrument or not . Cyr and Arell began to reach out to community members, businesses, and media outlets. Their hope was that local amateur musicians would remember how important music has been in their lives and pay it forward by giving the gift of an instrument to a student in need.

The school’s message moved beyond the greater Bangor area and then went national. By the beginning of December, Veazie Community School had received 35 donated  instruments and other musical equipment. Caring people from Maine, as well as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Illinois, Michigan, Utah, and Colorado, sent donations to the school. Many others that did not have instruments, but wanted to contribute, mailed in monetary donations that totaled about $2,000. Students and staff were overwhelmed to learn that people hundreds or thousands of miles away that had never even heard of Veazie Community School were willing to give because they cared about children and knew the importance of learning music.

Concurrently, Arell had applied for various music program grants. In October, after an
application process and interview, Veazie Community School was awarded $1,000 as a
community grant from Bangor Walmart Supercenter. This was a larger grant than Arell had anticipated and the students were very excited and thankful.

What Arell did not know was that after the local Walmart grant had been awarded, Walmart Corporation noticed the media coverage that Veazie’s instrument drive was receiving, and authorized an additional grant of $30,000. This substantial grant is the first time that Bangor Walmart Supercenter has presented such a major award. Veazie Community School is the only school in the state to receive this large an amount from any Walmart store this year.

2019-2020 has been an exciting year for Veazie Community School. In December, the school was recognized as a Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School. For the music program in particular, interest in ensembles has grown. About 70% of all 3rd-8th grade students choose to participate in Band class and about 50% of all 6th-8th grade students participate in Chorus class. The students’ enthusiasm for creating music and for learning is contagious.

The large grant from Walmart will allow the Veazie music program to continue to bring high quality musical experiences to all students and to help foster lifelong appreciation for music learning. This significant award will contribute to the goal of Veazie’s students, staff, and administration—to create a school culture of musical achievement. Veazie Community School is a small school with a big heart and the school’s heartbeat comes from its passionate music students that now have even more opportunities.

This article was submitted by Matthew Cyr, Superintendent of Schools & Principal at Veazie Community School as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea email it to Rachel Paling at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Young women from Westbrook High School (WHS) gathered in the WHS Library on March 10^th to hear a very important message from the Westbrook Women’s Club, the Westbrook City Clerk’s Office, and from female educators and role models working in their school: exercise your right to vote.

WHS Art Teacher Debra Bickford, WHS Librarian Beth Andersen, and WSH Assistant Principal Wendy Harvey hosted interested students in the library for a presentation about Women’s Suffrage as an homage to Maine’s Bicentennial celebration. The event is one of many Bicentennial related activities that Westbrook School Department has brought to students throughout the week.

Westbrook Women’s Club getting their picture taken by WHS Newspaper.

Dressed in the attire that women would have worn as they marched for Women’s Suffrage in the early 1900s, ladies from the Westbrook Women’s Club shared the history of women’s struggle and eventual success at gaining the right to vote in the United States. All of the adults in the room took the opportunity to stress the importance of this movement by sharing the ongoing struggles and triumphs experienced by women in Maine, all over the country, and around the world through the years and continuing to this day as women continue to work toward equality.

Westbrook Women’s Club

Debra Bickford, WHS Art Teacher

Angela Holmes from the Westbrook City Clerk’s office

While ladies from the Westbrook Women’s Club talked about having to prove they were literate in order to vote right here in Maine several decades ago, other women shared examples of gaining equal access to athletics as female students, and also referenced the on-going struggle for equal pay. All shared as examples of why it is so important for young women to exercise their right to vote.

“Having a voice in this country is something that we can’t take for granted,” said WHS Librarian Beth Andersen.

As part of the event, WHS Art Teacher Debra Bickford helped coordinate WHS Honor Society students as they put an artistic spin on artwork from the era.

Representatives from Westbrook City Clerk’s Office were also at the event and shared information about how to register to vote, including when young adults can register or pre-register to vote, and to not be afraid to ask questions about the process when the time comes to go down to the voting booth.

“Don’t think that your vote doesn’t matter,” said WHS Assistant Principal Wendy Harvey. “If not for your self than for generations of women to come,” she added.

In addition to the Women’s Suffrage event at Westbrook High School, the students have also been engaged in Maine themed games of Jeopardy, a Maine themed bracket where students vote on food items and other Maine related items to pick an icon that best represents the state, they plan to host Maine Comedian Tim Sample this week, and even the Middle School has adopted a Maine theme to their annual Spirit Week.

Maine Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) recently awarded Sebago Elementary School fourth and fifth grade teacher Ted Bridge-Koenigsberg as the 2020 MAITC Teacher of the Year. Pictured above is Ted receiving his award from Amanda Beal, the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, and Willie Grenier, Executive Director of Maine Agriculture in the Classroom.

In their Newsletter, MAITC talks about Ted and how he integrates agriculture in his classroom:

Ted currently teaches grades four and five at Sebago Elementary School and has been using agriculture in his classroom for years to help transform the educational experience of his students. The Sebago Elementary School Garden hosts a combination of flowers, vegetables, fruit trees, and the centerpiece: grapes. Ted has been using the grape vines, perhaps more than any other species in the garden, to get kids interested in plants, and the food they produce. Ted has coordinated with Sebago Elementary kitchen staff, providing hands-on lessons that have seen the students make grape jam, and even grape fruit leather, right in the classroom. His current project is “Fleece to Felted Footwear,” where students are learning about fiber processing by turning raw wool and natural dyes into warm felted woolen shoes they can wear, integrating art, science, and social studies! In June, Ted will be traveling with us to the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah to attend sessions, and learn and connect with other educators from all over the country, and take that information and resources back to his school.

As part of the award, the MAITC teacher of the year gets to attend the MAITC annual Summer Teacher’s Institute free of cost and they also get to go to the National Ag in the Classroom conference.

The MAITC Teacher of the Year is a Maine elementary or secondary teacher who is using agricultural education materials/activities/resources in their classroom to teach core subjects. Teachers can apply for this award or be nominated. More information about the award and how to nominate or apply is available on the MAITC website.

School Union (SU) 76, which is comprised of The Brooklin School, Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School, Deer Isle-Stonington High School, Sedgwick Elementary School, and the Isle au Haut School recently celebrated National Public Schools Week by creating a video about their schools and the communities that come together to make these schools so special. Check out the video here:

This video was submitted by Christian Elkington, Superintendent of School Union 76 as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

On February 5, 2020, MSAD #42 in Mars Hill hosted two virtual author visits in celebration of both World Read Aloud Day and Aroostook Regional Gifted and Talented Battle of the Books.

Each year, with the help of a list created by Author Kate Messner, teachers and librarians from across the country are invited to contact authors willing to offer free virtual visits with students via Skype. MSAD #42’s District Librarian and Gifted & Talented teacher Natasha Brewer, in conjunction with Aroostook Regional Gifted and Talented (ARGT) teachers, organized two author visits.

Each school year ARGT hosts both middle school and high school Battle of the Books competitions.  Students read several books and gather in the spring to test their knowledge and recollection of the information covered in the texts.  Using this year’s ARGT Battle of the Books competition as a guide, Brewer was able to schedule visits with two authors who wrote books on this year’s list. All ARGT schools were invited to join Mars Hill’s students for the visits. Taking part in the event were teachers and students from MSAD#24 in Van Buren, MSAD#20 in Fort Fairfield, Easton Jr/Sr High School in Easton, and SAD#32 in Ashland.

Middle school students and teachers spent forty minutes with author Ann Braden who read an excerpt from her debut novel, The Benefits of Being an Octopus, and then answered student’s questions. High school students and teachers spent forty minutes with White Rose author, Kip Wilson. The collaboration of several Aroostook County schools made it possible for over 70 students to meet and learn from highly successful authors, as well as each other.  Due to the overwhelming response from the students and teachers, Brewer and ARGT hope to continue providing annual author visits to celebrate the benefits of reading, diverse texts, and connections with others.

This story was submitted by Kay York, Principal at Central Aroostook Junior-Senior High School as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email it to Rachel Paling at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

James H. Bean School (JBS) fifth graders organized the annual food drive for the Sidney Food Pantry centered around the Super Bowl this year.

Students were encouraged to bring in non-perishable food items to be be delivered to the food pantry. Items were placed in a grocery cart either labeled the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers. Whichever cart had the most food items in it would be JHB’s prediction for the team that will win the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 2.

The cans were counted and the results were:

• Kansas City Chiefs – 201 items
• San Francisco 49ers – 376 items.

JHB’s prediction was clear – San Francisco 49ers were predicted to be the Super Bowl LIV Champs!

Even though the prediction was not correct, JHB still collected 577 items for the Sidney Food Pantry. They extend a special thanks to everyone who participated. 

This story was provided by Keith, Assistant Superintendent of Schools/Chief Academic Officer for Regional School Unit No. 18 as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success campaign. To submit a story or idea, email it to Rachel Paling at rachel.paling@maine.gov,