Dinner Held for Midcoast Center for Higher Education Graduates
Members of the Midcoast Center for Higher Education Student Association hosted the fourth annual graduation dinner and awards ceremony for both University of Maine System and Southern Maine Community College graduates who attended a number of their classes at the Center in Bath. The celebration was held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, May 2, at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The dinner, catered by Mae’s Cafe, was attended by twenty-two graduates, their families and friends, center faculty and staff.
Keeping with a “green” theme, Fred Cichocki, a self-proclaimed natural philosopher and adjunct faculty member at Southern Maine Community College’s Bath campus, gave a talk entitled “Educational Mandate for a Brave New Century.” Cichocki, who earned a PhD in Zoology from The University of Michigan in 1976, has been a college professor for nearly 35 years, and, most recently, the curator of a natural history museum. In the late 1970s he discovered the general systems theory and its power to integrate such diverse fields as physics, ecology and economics into a comprehensive, predictive whole. This holistic perspective served to transform his world view, and his philosophy of education. States Cichocki, “I am convinced more than ever that an authentic, broadly liberal education (well-grounded in the study of whole systems) is essential if modern society is to pass successfully through the current bottleneck of turmoil and achieve long-term ecological and social sustainability.”
This year’s area graduates include: Southern Maine Community College—Stephen Boyle-Sibley, Jessica Clark, Ashlea Compton, and Darlene Compton of Bath, Jason Dighton of Alna, Jessica Doucette of Boothbay, Mathieu Dumond of South Portland, Kelly Fitzmaurice of Topsham, Emily Goldsworth of Lewiston, Indira Gowell of Woolwich, Jenise Lucas of West Bath, and Brittany Wood of Cushing.
University of Maine at Augusta—Abby Comee-McCourt, Eileen Conner, Letia Fowlie, Jeanelle Merrill-Pyy, Julie Morse, Sarah Morse, and Natalie Wade of Bath, Regina Dunning and Susan Zimmermann of Woolwich, Patricia Goud, Heidi Grover, Michelle Moon, and Kim Readinger of Wiscasset, Marsha Gray of Westport Island, Patricia Iles, Nichole Jacobs, Leianda Mattos, Susan Monegue, and Holly Snowdon Wild of Brunswick, Beth Langlois of Topsham, Heather Lunn-Howard of Lisbon Falls, and Dorinda Roye and Brandi Smith of West Bath.
University of Maine at Farmington—Wanda Gamage-Wyman of Union, Laura Larson of Brunswick, Maureen Leblanc of North Berwick, and Robert Parlin of Freeport.
University of Southern Maine—Wyeth Bowdoin, Cornelius Donovan, Hope DvoraK, Aimee Michaud, and Rossella Moyer of Brunswick, Nicole Brassard of Bath, Amanda Edmondson of Topsham, Jessica Meakin of Lisbon Falls, and Sarah Sherman of Boothbay.
Academic achievement awards were presented to graduates with a 3.5 or higher grade point average who attended the dinner. Receiving this award were Abby Comee-McCourt, Darlene Compton, Patricia Goud, Marsha Gray, Laura Larson, Maureen Leblanc , Susan Monegue, Robert Parlin, Kim Readinger, Holly Snowdon Wild and Susan Zimmermann.
Two academic excellence awards for the graduate with the highest grade point average were presented. Rossella Moyer received the University College at Bath/Brunswick award and Jenise Lucas received the SMCC award.
Two longevity awards were presented for the graduates who persevered the longest in achieving her or his degree. Ashlea Compton received the SMCC award and Kim Readinger received the UCBB award.
The outstanding student award honors a student who has made an outstanding contribution to the Midcoast Center for Higher Education. This year this award went to Natalie Wade for her many valuable contributions to the center.
The student association members – Linda Arris, Stacey Doray, Nova Free, Mama Lavezzari and Natalie Wade – were recognized for their service to the students at the Center.
Northern white cedar seedlings, donated by Cedar Works, were given to attendees to plant in honor of this occasion.