On April 8, kindergarten through fifth grade Dragons got a visit from Park Ranger Karin Magera from the National Park Service. Kindergarteners and first graders listened to The First Blade of Sweetgrass by Suzanne Greenlaw and Gabriel Frey, a story about a Wabanaki girl who is excited to accompany her grandmother for the first time to harvest sweetgrass for basket making, and participated in a weaving activity. Grades 2 and 3 learned what would happen If the Statues Could Talk, a story from the French colony of 1604-05.

April marks Youth Month for Credit Unions across the nation, and Downeast Credit Union is proudly celebrating at all eight of its locations throughout Maine. This annual event highlights the importance of saving and financial education, encouraging young individuals to build strong financial habits early in life.

First National Bank recently announced that it has made donations totaling $38,250 to organizations fighting food insecurity, including 35 food pantries in the bank’s market area. “First National Bank deeply values the essential services that our local food pantries offer to our neighbors in need,” acknowledged Tony C. McKim, President and CEO. “As a Maine community bank, we are dedicated to supporting these vital organizations as they work to help families put food on the table.”

Will Tuell

Not even a dreary, drizzly, mid-May morning could dampen the spirits of the 70 University of Maine Machias students receiving diplomas on Saturday. Friends, family, professors, and community members packed into the Reynolds Center gym for the 10 a.m. right of passage. Yet remarks by Class of 2025 Valedictorian Emma Soctomah and Passamaquoddy Tribal historian Dwayne Tomah, the ceremony’s keynote speaker, gave the proceedings a distinctly Passamaquoddy feel. 

Kayleigh Scott, a senior at Calais High School, has been selected to receive the 2025 Principal’s Award, Principal Dean A. Preston announced last week. The award, sponsored by the Maine Principals’ Association, is given in recognition of a high school senior’s academic achievement and citizenship.

On Thursday, June 5, four Washington County students will graduate from Wayfinder Schools, an alternative high school serving 75 students in nine Maine counties. 

This year’s Washington County graduates are Shauna Collins, Lyndon Harnois, Raquel Mendez, and Liam O’Neill. All participated in Wayfinder’s Passages Program, a program in which students receive individualized instruction in their own homes as they complete 24 core requirements in academics, practical life skills, and, in some cases, parenting. 

Woodland High School alumnae Shaye Beers and Keila Gallway (Class of 2018) sparked a vision just before the pandemic to bring the Yellow Tulip Project to their school, an initiative to help end the stigma surrounding mental health. In 2023, that vision bloomed as Mr. Moody, Mr. Knowles, and PE students planted 100 yellow tulip bulbs. At that time, Mr. Moody said the project will continue each year as a reminder that even after the darkest days, hope can return. Last week, as has become tradition, this year’s seniors picked the flowers as a symbol of hope and resilience.

When Lauren Remington stepped into the Early Childhood Education classroom at St. Croix Regional Technical Center, she wasn’t just filling a position, she was reviving a program that had been dormant for two years.

Woodland Christian Fellowship (WCF) in Baileyville recently completed its Annual Vacation Bible School. The church was decorated from the floor to the eaves, giving those in attendance the sense that they had stepped into a garden filled with God’s promises. 

Over 20 children attended and were challenged at the beginning of the week to bring in loose change to raise money for Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse committed to sending shoeboxes filled with gifts and Jesus’ love to less-fortunate children around the world.