Doctorate degree launches civilian Navy career for WHS grad

By Ed Pierce

Sierra Yost is following her dreams and is surely bound for bigger things in life but right now she’s relaxing with her family in Windham and enjoying some well-deserved time off before starting a new job in three weeks working as a Material Engineer for the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division in China Lake, California.

Sierra Yost, a 2016 graduate of Windham High School and
the 2020 Valedictorian of the University of Maine Orono's
College of Engineering, has earned a doctorate in Chemical
Engineering at Penn State University  She will soon start a
job as a Material Engineer for the Naval Air Warfare Center
Weapons Division in China Lake, California.
COURTESY PHOTO
   

A 2016 graduate of Windham High School, Yost, 27, graduated as the 2020 College of Engineering’s valedictorian at the University of Maine at Orono and then went on to earn a doctorate degree in chemical engineering at Penn State University. She was inspired to study chemical engineering after taking the AP Chemistry class there taught by former WHS teacher Lisa McClellan.

“I knew I wanted to do research and development as a chemical engineer, and a PhD makes you much more qualified to do so,” Yost said. “I was able to take a lot of AP classes at Windham High, which prepared me for studying and understanding the material in my chemical engineering classes at UMaine and Penn State.”

Yost said that while she was at UMaine, she was able to work at a paper mill co-op, focusing on Research and Development, which led her to decide that she wanted to get her doctorate degree.

“Additionally, I was able to do a research-based honors thesis while there, which taught me the basics of research in an academic setting.” she said.

In 2021, Yost was awarded the Department of Defense Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation Scholarship. Recipients of the SMART award receive full tuition for up to five years, summer internships, a stipend and full-time employment with the Department of Defense after graduation. It was a unique opportunity which provided her with hands-on experience at one of the nation’s most innovative Department of Defense laboratories and working under an experienced mentor while gaining valuable technical skills.

“SMART is a scholarship-for-service program, so I owe four years as a DoD civilian to the Navy,” she said.

According to Yost, the biggest difference between her undergraduate studies at UMaine and her doctorate studies at Penn State were the things she learned about researching.

“I was on the pulp and paper scholarship at UMaine, so my time was very paper focused, but at Penn State I focused on the sustainability of common consumer plastics by optimizing them for 3D printing after they have been used and chemical recycling,” she said.

While at home in Windham, Yost has been working on a few papers with her advisor and colleagues from Penn State and she also went on a four-day trip to Iceland.

Yost says that she misses being close to friends and family here and says her all-time favorite teacher she had during all her time attending Windham schools is Jen Breton at Manchester School.

“She made learning really fun, even when we were doing more difficult work,” Yost said.

Her initial interest in science began at Windham High School.

“I loved the challenges the science classes offered, and I loved how much they loved science, it was contagious, so I have kept searching for positions and opportunities where I can do science that I am that excited about as well,” she said.

Yost’s eventual career objective would be to work in Research and Development in the pulp and paper industry.

“I did some of that during my time at UMaine, and really loved it,” she said. “Beyond that, I would like to end up in New England, preferably Maine, with enough land for a small garden and some chickens and bees.”

In her free time, Yost is an avid runner, likes spending time outdoors and enjoys hiking, skiing, fishing and kayaking.

She is grateful for the role that her father, Rick Yost of Windham, and her mother, Marla Pettinelli of Lewiston, have played in encouraging her success. <

Diamond leaves a legacy of exceptional public service to community

By Ed Pierce

There’s an old saying that “to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die” and for Windham’s beloved state legislator, educator and businessman Bill Diamond, that expression rings true.

Bill Diamond of Windham, a longtime legislator, educator,
business owner and child welfare advocate, has died at the 
age of 80. He co-founded Windham Neighbors Helping
Neighbors to provide heat assistance to those in need and
the Walk A Mile In Their Shoes Foundation to end 
child homicide in Maine.  FILE PHOTO  

Diamond, 80, passed away Sunday, Aug. 31 after a hard-fought battle with cancer and the outpouring of kind words and sentiment for him and his family has been non-stop. Having spent more than 40 years in politics and service as Maine’s Secretary of State from 1989 to 1997, Diamond leaves behind a legacy few will equal.

A lifelong Democrat, Diamond first ran for the Maine House of Representatives in 1976 as a write-in candidate and defeated Republican Barbara Strong. He won re-election for the seat in 1978 by defeating Republican Carole Bean. He won a third term in the Maine House in 1980 while running unopposed. In 1982, he beat Republican David Huber to win a Maine State Senate seat representing Windham, and he then defeated Republican Ken Cole in 1984 to win re-election before stepping down from the legislature at that time.

He grew up on his grandfather’s farm in West Gardiner and came to Southern Maine to study to become a teacher at Gorham State Teacher’s College, earning a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in education. He married his wife Jane in 1968, and the couple raised two daughters, Kristin and Karyn, in Windham and now have eight grandchildren. His actual first name was George but preferred to be known by his middle name, William.

Many students in Windham and Raymond will recall Diamond as their school principal or teacher. He taught from 1968 to 1986 in Windham schools and was the first principal of Windham’s Manchester School. He went on to lead Field-Allen Junior High School and Windham Middle School as principal and was Superintendent of Schools for Raymond. Diamond also served as superintendent and director of governmental relations for the controversial Elan School in Poland.

His interests varied outside of politics and education. He earned a brown belt in karate and was the owner of the now-closed Windham Independent newspaper. He was also a long-time co-owner of All-Med Medical Staffing in Windham and owned a security business for many years in town.

Before becoming Maine’s 45th Secretary of State in 1989, Diamond threw his hat into the ring in a bid to become governor in 1986 and then campaigned for the 1st Congressional District position in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, losing in the Democratic Primary.

In 2004, Diamond defeated Republican Joe Bruno of Raymond to win the Maine Senate District 12 seat and won re-election in 2006, 2008 and 2010 before being term limited. Four years later in 2014, Diamond defeated Republican Kaile Warren to win the Maine Senate District 26 seat and subsequently won re-election to that position in 2016, 2018, and 2020.

As the cost of heating homes rose in the early 2000s, Diamond co-founded and served as president of Windham Neighbors Helping Neighbors in 2007, an all-volunteer effort which raised money to provide emergency heating oil to community residents in need. He also served as a board member for the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals in Windham and Hospice of Southern Maine.

Before leaving political office in 2022, Diamond was known statewide as a staunch advocate for children and led Maine Senate investigations into prominent deaths of abused children whose families were relegated to the state’s child welfare system. In 2014, Diamond wrote a book about the subject called “The Evil and the Innocent.”

In 2023, Diamond launched the “Walk A Mile In Their Shoes Foundation,” a non-profit dedicated to preventing child homicides and the abuse of children who are under the supervision or direct care of the State of Maine or who are or have been associated with the state’s Child Protective System.

“Children associated with state care have been dying at record levels, in fact, as recently as 2021 a record number of children died, many were victims of child homicides,” Diamond said at the time. “The chilling question is: How many more children must die before we make meaningful changes?”

He said he was first made aware of the issues affecting child homicide in Maine and the state’s child protection system in 2001.

“The problem has continued to persist over the past 22 years under four different gubernatorial administrations, Independent, Republican, and Democrat,” he said in launching the foundation. “The problems are not partisan based. They are the concern of all of us. This is the most important thing I’ve ever been able to do, nothing comes close.”

One of the purposes of the foundation is to bring people from a variety of interests and backgrounds together to develop meaningful strategies for positive changes to protect children who are the innocent victims of a broken system and to work with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Child and Family Services in a joint effort to improve the state’s child safety policies and practices and truly make a difference.

“We really don’t want to think about these children because it cuts deeply into our souls,” Diamond said earlier this year. “But we must if we want to help.”

In June, Diamond made his final public appearance at the 2025 Windham Summerfest Parade as he was honored as the Modern Woodmen of America’s Hometown Hero for 2025.

Funeral arrangements are pending. <