Mt. Blue Students sweep National Honor Society! Congratulations to Macee Qi, Danika Morin, Heather McDonald, TaviaRobshaw, Isabella Navarro, and Terry Clark! Lexi Asselin is taking more challenging classes than last year and is enjoying the additional challenge!Ashlee Atchinson is in two new clubs this year: Respect Team and Key Club!Jenna Bickford is taking 2 AP classes and is enjoying the classes and the extra challenge! Natasha Blake ran cross country this fall for Oxford Hills and is interning in a Grade 2 classroom for her Early Childhood class. She also just recently broke the school’s women’s push-up record! Katelyn Campbell and Justice Pittman were both in the Oxford Hills production of “It’s a Wonderful Life” this December! Amber Dennison got her first job this fall working at Pumpkinland for the season. She just recently made the varsity basketball team at Oxford Hills!Mariah Gonzales cheered this fall and is cheering again this winter at Oxford Hills! Faith Paglierani went to the Reptile Expo in New Hampshire this fall and came home with a new pet gecko name “PePe the Cute” (a play on “PepeLe Pew” from Looney Tunes fame). Marcelo Mazariego played football for Oxford Hills this fall! Keith Crockett-Harrington played footbal for Telstar this fall and finished up his Eagle Scout project of building picnic shelter for the town of Hanover! Aislinn Forbes went to a cousin’s wedding in Ohio and got to see a little bit of Kent State University while she was there! Tyra Howes is busy with classes and extracurricular activities including being Secretary of her class this year! Kristen Jackson is also busy with extracurricular activities including taking 3 dance classes and co-teaching one class! Liz Lyons got her driver’s license in August and has recently learned how to drive a standard transmission car!BeccaStitham is competing on the speech team for Lawrence High School!Brett Stuard is Student of the Month for Mt. Blue High School!Calvin Downey performed with the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble at Merrill Auditorium in Portland!Jeremy Austin performed in the school play over the weekend and has recently started participating in the Debate Team, the Civil Rights Club, and Big Brothers Big Sisters at Buckfield High School!Kara Libby is President of the Civil Rights Club at Buckfield High School!Cole Williams is preparing for his Winter Concert for band and chorus at Madison! Alisha Fox in currently doing her Clinicals at a local nursing home and loving it!Summer Libby, Kaylee Piccolo, and Tiffany Camire are cheering for basketball and competition for Madison!Tiffany Camire is student of the month for Madison High School!Linda Dudley and Macy Lee are on the Indoor Track Team for Skowhegan Area High School!David Washburn is playing hockey on the Skowhegan/Lawrence Hockey team!Monique Mills is Captain of the Bowling Team at Skowhegan!Alyssa Doucette is manager for the Wrestling team for Skowhegan!Courtney Ireland is on the competition cheering team at Skowhegan!Ceilya Cooley is in Vocal Vibe at Lawrence! Rachel Averill National Honor Society President at Mountain Valley High School and State Vice-President for NHS! Shawn Bennett played soccer and ran cross-country this fall at Mountain Valley High School and got his driver’s license in October! Anthony Boucher played Football this fall at Mountain Valley High School!Shannon Santillo got a job at McDonalds! Elliott Eno got a Classroom Award for Music Theory.

What Colleges Look For in Your Application

By: Ashley Avery

I attended an admissions workshop at Smith College whilst looking at the college. The Dean of Admissions Deb Shaver took us through what most colleges are looking for on their application. It was titled “What I Like About You.”

The first thing a college looks at is your transcript. They say it is an academic competition.But do not worry about the competition, because context is everything when it comes to transcripts. The college looks to see that you have taken the most challenging courses for you, also known as appropriately challenging. But how do they know? Each college will ask for a high school’s profile or they will have one on hand. This profile will have all of the classes offered for you to take, the level of these classes, the environment, number of students, and other things about your high school.

The next things that the college looks at are your letters of recommendation or references. The first is the one from your guidance counselor. This letter puts the student into the context of the school, such as how you interact with others. The second thing they are looking for is two teacher letters that willdescribe students in the context ofclass, and things like how well you work with peers and if we are attentive.

Third is the essay and which is really important. The essay,for administration, provides how well students express themselves.What they are looking for:

  • Can the student put together a sentence and a paragraph?
  • Can the student form a thesis, provide detail and prove their point?
  • Can the student write with voice and nuance and creativity?
  • How

The short answer questions are as important as the essay, so put as much effort into them as the essay, as they tell just as much about you.

Standardized testing is not required by some schools or they are test optional. Also a lot of colleges do not employ test cut-offs. These tests are an imperfect tool for student comparison because of geography.

The other factors: Interviews are highly recommended because admissions counselors get to meet you in person, so that time is yours to sell yourself to the school. Extra-curricular activities: it is more important to have consistency with one or more rather than a wide variety. A college wants to see that you will stay with an activity. Lastly, a new factor: shown interest. This would entail being on the mailing list, visiting the college, participating in days that are held for potential students; the college wants you to look like you will go there.

Some other things:

  • Colleges are first generation aware when it comes to wait-listing students
  • Admissions is looking to create a well-rounded class
  • It is better to apply early action because you are more likely to get accepted

Submitting work (i.e. an art profile or pieces of music) you have done can only help. Colleges may show them to professors who would say: “I would really like to work with that student!” making you look more desirable as a student.


Western Mass. Trip Summary

By: Alyssa Higbie

A weekend college adventure with 4 of my fellow Upward Bounder’s plus Elyse, what could be better? Ashley Avery, Allison Bernier, Tristen Webber, Caitlyn Young, and I embarked on a 3 day journey to Western Massachusetts (& Connecticut) to visit six colleges: Mt. Holyoke, Amherst, University of Conn, Hampshire, UMass at Amherst, and Smith College. We would later find out that there was a theory surrounding 5 of these colleges (all but UConn) called the Scooby Doo theory, if you would like to read about it you can find it by searching “Scooby Doo college theory” on Google.

It was an early start on Saturday morning, meeting up with Tristen, Ashley, and Caitlyn at UMF at 7 o’clock am, and later picking up Allison on our way in Jay. As we started our 4 and 1/2 hour drive to the Mt. Holyoke campus we started listening to the over 5 hours of CD’s that Rico graciously made for us. (Thanks Rico! Your sticky notes were well noted!) The car was filled with all of our harmonious voices for a good majority of the ride, singing an assortment of songs and even some Disney classics from our childhood (or just last week). When we arrived at Mt. Holyoke the first impression of the campus was that it was very pretty and kept up. We were treated to lunch with our tour guides and were able to ask questions about the college & what campus life is like. After lunch we took a tour around the campus and saw a couple dorms, classrooms, labs, and the new science building that even reflected science in the construction and design. We quickly realized as we walked around campus that the school was big on tradition, and that it was an all-women college. After Mt. Holyoke we went over to Amherst College and took a self-guided tour, commentated by our very own Ashley.

Amherst’s campus was beautiful with fall leaves still on the trees and a wonderful view of surrounding mountains. The overriding highlight of Amherst College was by far the visit to their Museum of Natural History where there was displays of Wooly Mammoth bones, and full scale dinosaur replicas. On our way out we were able to witness a wedding party coming out of the campus chapel to take pictures at the nearby lookout. After our quick tour of Amherst we checked into our hotel & relaxed for a little bit before we headed to the Academy of Music’s performance of “H.M.S Pinafore”.

After a long first day, being able to have a chill Sunday and sleep in was marvelous. We started out from the hotel and headed towards UConn, about half way there we made a stop in Springfield, Mass. at the Dr. Seuss National Memorial. The memorial had an elaborate house made exclusively out of sticks, along with sculptures of many Seuss’ classic characters including Horton, Thing 1 & Thing 2, the Grinch, and Sally to name a few. When we finally got to the UConn campus it looked more like its own city than a college campus! The campus is massive and you could easily spend hours to explore it all. One of the biggest buildings that we saw was called the Co-Op, it is the campus super store; with two floors having everything you would ever possibly need in college- & then some! UConn is definitely for the student who wants a big campus & to not have to leave campus to get what you need. On the way back we visited Hampshire College. Hampshire is the smallest college we toured, the campus has a laid back and chill atmosphere to it. For most of us the highlight of Hampshire was the tree swing we found on campus! After Hampshire we did a drive through tour of UMass at Amherst. The campus was pretty big in size and the population is around the same as UConn’s. I enjoyed having time to go shopping in the downtown area later in the evening and for all of us to be able to try Thai food. (Which most of us liked surprisingly!) After our downtown adventures we called it a day and retired to the hotel for some much anticipated pool time. Let me tell you, the pool area at the hotel is like a paradise!

On our last day, Monday, we participated in Smith College’s Discovery Day. Overall it was a very fun day for all of us with each of us getting to have a different experience of the college. We were able to go off on our own and see what we each wanted to see from the college. The day was broken up into different sessions with opportunities to tour the campus, sit in on classes, talk to students, and get helpful information. During our lunch break we ran into Upward Bound Alumni Mollie Pleau, it was nice to see a fellow Upward Bounder who was in our shoes only a few years back. Personally I had a cool experience there finding a building that was named after my great-great aunt! After a long day and busy weekend we started back on our way up to Maine, with the music blasting, our voices singing, and the memories of the weekend in our minds.


UB READS

– DUNCAN GRANT

Wade Watts is just an average teenager in a futuristic world, but all is not well. Famine, disease, and poverty have ravaged the United States. So, like many people who need a release from the real world, Wade spends most of his time in a virtual world known as OASIS, which was made by the most famous nerd in the world. But when OASIS's creator dies, he leaves his vast fortune to whoever can find the in-game keys, which will open the doors to the next puzzle and, therefore, the next key.

But after finding the first key, a corporation hounds him, trying with all their might to get Wade, who in OASIS is known as Parzival, to join them and give up the fortune once he finds the rest of the keys and doors. Wade of course refuses, which ends up with his home getting blown up (don't worry, he wasn't there), letting him know that the only way to stomp the enemy is by winning the fortune.

This book, Ready Player One by Earnest Cline, is the biggest nerd-gasm in the history of books. It's filled with 80's pop culture references at all points, teenager logic, games, role playing awesomeness, and just plain awesomeness in general. Granted, there are some raunchy parts, but like I said, Wade is a teenage boy, so that's to be expected.

Overall, an amazing read, and I would say to take any opportunity you can to read it, gamers, nerds, and teens alike.


Rhode Island and Mass Trip

MarioGerardi:

On Friday, November 15th, we left UMF at the crack of dawn and made our way to Rhode Island! We visited two colleges that day, URI and Providence College. URI seemed like a quiet, peaceful college and the campus was really pretty. It had an amazing library (in my own opinion). They often host very important games and various performances. Ke$ha performed here last year!

Providence College, which is a Roman Catholic university, was a very intriguing place. Everybody who went there had a positive attitude and it felt like an overall cheerful place. The buildings were very intricate and varied in style, from older architecture to more modern. The campus is very close to Providence and is more of a private college than URI.

Overall, the experience was great. These being my first college visits (besides the ones we visited over the summer) I learned a lot, and now I have a better idea of what I'm expecting in a college and what will make me happiest.

Elyse:

Saturday, November 16. Best Birthday EVER!!! Who gets a surprise party at 9:00 in the morning? This girl! And so started the best birthday ever. We left the hotel and headed for Bryant University, where we attended an open house, went on a tour, and ate lunch at the on-campus Subway. From there, we headed to Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots, to see a UMass Amherst football game. It was spectacular. My favorite part was the marching band. With hundreds of musicians, dancers, and baton twirlers, they filled the massive stadium with music. The weather was exceptionally warm and the company was amazing. After a very special fifth quarter encore by the marching band, we headed to our hotel in Worcester and spent the rest of the evening eating, swimming, and relaxing.

Duncan Grant:

Sunday, November 17 was the final day of our college trip, and by that time, exhaustion had set in. The first college of the day was Becker College, but given the fact that this was a Sunday, we went on self-guided tours. We didn't see inside many buildings, so the visit didn't add much insight to the college. From there, we moved on to Clark. This was also self-guided, but we had guide books to help us to understand what each building was for. Worcester Polytechnic Institute was our next stop, where we ate lunch and were guided around by an Upward Bound alum, Andrew Leonard! Finally, we visited Fitchburg State University, but by then had become extremely exhausted and some didn't do much exploring. From there, we returned to Maine and got a much needed respite from the events of the weekend.

Congratulations, Seniors!

College acceptances to date:

Jeremy Austin- USM, Clark

Rachel Averill- USM, UMO, Curry

Holley Barker- USM, UMM

Shawn Bennett-UMO, Daniel Webster

Jake Brown-USM, Husson, UMO

Chad Buote-CMCC

Tiffany Camire- UMO, Husson

Katelin Carey- UMF, University of New Haven, Clark, Becker