Schoolhouse Arts Center kicks off 30th season with hilarious farce

By Elizabeth Richards

Schoolhouse Arts Center opened the first show of its 30^th season last weekend with an uproarious rendition of “Noises Off!”, a farcical look at the world of theatre. I had the pleasure of attending the dress rehearsal, which unfolded far more smoothly than the dress rehearsal portrayed on stage.

If you’ve ever participated in a theater production, you’re sure to appreciate the familiar (but greatly

exaggerated) glitches that arise. And if you haven’t, your perception of live theater may be forever changed once you’ve seen this show.

The audience received a glimpse of how each character would evolve from the moment each made their initial appearance on stage. The talented cast built upon these initial impressions throughout the show, creating characters that worked in perfect sync with one another. Through facial expressions, body movements, and flawless timing of remarks and gestures, the distinct personality of each character emerged. By the end of the show I felt as though I knew each character personally and could anticipate what might come next, though there were plenty of twists throughout.

The first act details the final dress rehearsal of a touring show about to open. Although it soon becomes clear that things aren’t running quite the way they should, there’s a hopeful air that it will all come together in the end. But by the end of the act, with personal lives revealed bit by bit and a love triangle emerging, it’s clear that the run may not be so smooth after all.

The second act, set a month later, gives a backstage glimpse of how poorly things have gone. It was this act that highlighted just how talented this group of actors (the Schoolhouse cast, not the fictional cast) is. The pace is quick and frenzied, but the show moved smoothly along, with so many side stories overlapping all at once that it was difficult to keep track of all the action.  Everywhere I looked there was a hilarious moment unfolding; I hate to think of how many I missed.

In the third act, back on the set of the fictitious show two months later, it’s clear that the entire production has devolved into total chaos. And yet, the (fictional) cast embraces the idea that “the show must go on,” moving through every missed entrance, unexpected arrival, and set failure as though nothing unusual has happened at all.

The physical comedy alone makes this show worth seeing. Comedic timing was right on, and there was often no way to determine if what had just happened was part of the script, or an actual glitch in the rehearsal. Everything worked so well that it simply didn’t matter.

As impressive as the acting and flow of the show was, the set showcased the backstage talent at Schoolhouse Arts Center.  Two stories high, with detachable stairs and ladders, the entire thing had to rotate between each act. The show has two 15-minute intermissions to accommodate this rotation. I recommend staying in your seat for one of them, just to see the feat accomplished.  It’s a real life look behind the scenes that added another level of interest to the production.

“Noises Off!” is a production that shouldn’t be missed. In fact, with all the action happening simultaneously, you might want to see it more than once to catch anything you may miss. There are four shows remaining in the run, on Friday, April 12^th at 7 pm; Saturday April 13^th at 2 pm and 7 pm; and Sunday, April 14^th at 2 pm. The show is rated PG-13 for language and innuendo.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.schoolhousearts.org.

Windham High School students get nerdy at science

By Briana Bizier

On a blustery Saturday in late March, a team of Windham High School students traveled to the University of Southern Maine’s Gorham campus to compete with mousetraps, calculators, and batteries. Maine’s annual Science Olympiad competition, which dates back to 1986, brings together teams of students from middle and high schools across the state.

“There’s no other competition like it,” explained Pamela Ferris-Olson, one of the two directors of the 2019 Maine Science Olympiad. “The events run across all STEM disciplines, from the build competitions to biology to physics. At least two students compete in every event, so kids learn how important it is to cooperate. The students win on the strength of their team.”

Maine Science Olympiad’s events range from tests on subjects as far-ranging as herpetology and forensics, which are written, administered, and graded by a group of dedicated volunteers who follow national standards, to “build” competitions where students design and construct something beforehand which is then tested and evaluated by volunteers on the University of Maine campus. The entire event is a celebration of math, science, and engineering. Windham High School’s team T-shirts poked fun at popular perceptions of science by using the symbols for nitrogen, erbium, and dysprosium from the Periodic Table of the Elements to spell out: NErDy.

“We have 23 events covered by 15 kids,” explained Daniel Wirtz, one of the two teachers who serve as coaches for the Windham High School team. “So, our team has to have a wide range of knowledge
and experience.”

For the build events, Wirtz said, students are required to bring their completed machines as well as their test and run logs to the competition. As we spoke, the Mousetrap Car competition ran in the background. For this event, high school students constructed a vehicle powered entirely by the snap of two mousetrap springs. To compete, the mousetrap car needed to push a cup eight meters, then stop, and then travel in reverse.

Another popular build event is called Mission Possible, where students construct a complex Rube Goldberg machine in order to accomplish a simple task. This year, the task was lifting a nine-volt battery. Extra points were awarded to students whose machines included details like using vinegar

and baking soda to inflate a balloon, filling a container with water in order to lift a golf ball, or using electricity to break a string.

My young assistants and I watched the Windham High School team set up and run their Mission Possible machine. As we waited, the volunteer judges examined the machine carefully and asked a few questions about the batteries.

“Those batteries are hooked up in parallel,” Windham High School student Evan Desmond explained, “so the voltage doesn’t add, it’s just the amperage.”

Clearly, these Windham High School students already know much more about electricity and

The Mousetrap car that won second place.

batteries than this reporter!

After a few last-minute adjustments, Desmond and fellow student, Cordelia Inman put their Mission Possible machine into action. A water balloon inflated, balls rolled down ramps, a string snapped, and finally a little engine whirred into action, slowly raising a wooden platform holding the single nine-volt battery.

“I want to see it again!” my four-year-old assistant declared. I promised him that, if he works hard enough in school, he could one day be on the Windham High School Science Olympiad team.

The Windham students’ dedication and hard work paid off during the Science Olympiad award ceremony. Students Annika Johnson and Landon Leclerc took a gold medal for first place in the Anatomy competition. Haley Froisland and Joshua Mora took silver, second place, for their Mouse Trap Car, and Desmond’s and Inman’s battery-lifting Mission Possible machine won third place. \

Students Owen Flibert and Kiril Perederil also took third place in the Forensics competition.

The Windham High School team is generously sponsored by State Farm Insurance in Windham, thanks to Tricia Zwirner. The Windham team thanks you for your continued support of math, science,
and engineering!

Paving the way – the story of a road trip for women’s right to vote

By Lorraine Glowczak

In 1915, three women drove across the country in an Overland Six automobile, from San Francisco to D.C. with the sole purpose of gathering and delivering over 500,000 signatures on a petition to Congress and President Wilson, demanding women’s right to vote.

Maine author, Anne Gass, retraced that trip with her husband in the summer of 2015 - 100 years after

Left to right Sara Bard Field (from Detroit), Maria Kindberg
and Ingeborg Klingstedt. photo credit goes to Library of Congress

the initial journey. She shared her own story as well as that of the three women who made the arduous trip in a presentation last Monday evening, March 25 at the Little Meeting House in Windham, hosted by the Windham Historical Society.

The trip was sponsored by the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), a small but mighty group led by Alice Paul that was determined to win voting rights for women through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution instead of the much slower strategy, pursued for decades, of winning it state by state. The CU set up a booth at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915 and spent months gathering signatures on a petition demanding an amendment to the U.S. Constitution enfranchising women.

However, there needed to be a way to get those signatures to President Woodrow Wilson and Congress in Washington, D.C. Paul decided that a cross-country road trip was the answer. This would permit gathering more signatures in the states they visited, and would also generate badly needed publicity for their cause.  

Paul asked a poet, Sara Bard Field and wealthy socialite, Frances Joliffe to represent the Congressional Union on that journey. “Unfortunately, Frances became ill and was forced to drop out of the trip almost right away- in Sacramento,” explained Gass. “Two Swedish immigrants from Rhode Island, Maria Kindberg and Ingeborg Kindstedt, had traveled by steamship to the Exposition and were already planning to buy a car and drive it back to Providence. They offered to drive the envoys and the petitions the 5,000 miles to D.C, getting there in time for the opening of Congress on December 6.”

As Gass explained at last Monday evening’s talk, “They traveled the Lincoln Highway. However, the term “highway” was much different at that time. In 1915, the ‘Lincoln Highway’ was little more than a cart track that would turn to a sea of mud in the rain. It was highly unusual for women to drive alone - but they were determined to do it and they overcame considerable hardship.”

Gass revealed the many obstacles the three women faced. “Notice the car is a convertible,” Gass pointed out the picture on the PowerPoint presentation. “They begin their road trip in September and were traveling east in early December. Obviously, they were going to face cold weather along the way.”

Author and speaker, Anne Gass

Gass also explained that they had three gas cans filled with water, oil, and fuel stored on one side of the vehicle because gas stations were not as plentiful and easily accessed as one would experience today on a cross-country trip.

She told the story of the three women driving through the Salt Flats of Utah on their way to Ibapah Ranch, where they were planning to stay that night. “They went through extreme heat, through dusty salt plains and had to stop to patch their tires a dozen times. Unfamiliar with the route, they’d hired a man who swore he knew the way,.”

Not as much help as expected, the hired driver got lost. With the help of two cowboys they found wrapped in their blankets at a crossroads, they finally arrived at the ranch early in the morning hours. “

The women continued across the U.S., enduring snowstorms, washed out roads and mud. “At one point, they got stuck in the mud  near Hutchinson, Kansas at 10 p.m. at night,” Gass said. “They had just passed a farm house, so they yelled for help with the hope that someone would hear them and offer assistance. Getting no response, Field, who had insisted on taking the short cut, was elected to walk to that house – in mud up to her hips in places– to ask for help.”

They discovered from two men they met later that day that their pleas for help were heard but ignored because, “If those women want the right to vote, let’s see if they can help themselves out of the mud,” is what the men said to the three feminists. Not impressed with their logic, Field rebutted, “Do you know how many times I’ve been up in the night to help a man who was ill and couldn’t take care of himself? This is not a matter of the right to vote, this is about common humanity.”

Despite their challenges, the road trip provided opportunities for signatures and education to the public, with Field informing those who gathered in town squares, etc. about suffrage and encouraging people to support voter rights.

Making it to D.C. in time and impressed by the size of the petition, the President expressed his admiration and said he would consider their demand. Although it took another five years, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, finally ratified in 1920, opened the polls to women. The three women, plus the 500,000 signatures, helped pave the way for women winning the right to vote.

Anne B. Gass is the author of “Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage”, published in 2014. She is the great-granddaughter of Florence Brooks Whitehouse who led Maine’s branch of the CU, working closely with Paul, Lucy Burns and other well-known suffragists. Gass’s great-grandmother was present in D.C. to greet Field, Kindberg and Kindstedt after their long three-month trip.

Gass lectures regularly on Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine suffrage history at conferences, historical societies, libraries, schools, etc. She serves on the Steering Committee of the Maine Suffrage Centennial Collaborative, a diverse group of organizations from across the state working to promote the one hundred year anniversary of woman suffrage.

To have Gass speak to your group, contact her at agassmaine@gmail.com.

Career fair offers networking and connection for successful professional life in Maine

By Briana Bizier

Last Wednesday, as the bright March sun melted the remaining snowbanks on Saint Joseph’s campus, a group of businesses, community members, and college students gathered to focus on their futures and, together, to help advance the future of our state.

The annual Saint Joseph’s Career and Internship Fair, which was re-scheduled for March 27 due to a snowstorm on the original date in February, provided an excellent opportunity to build networks and connections which may lead to internships, jobs and, ultimately, a successful professional life in Maine. With over 60 employers in attendance from fields as diverse as banking, law enforcement, mental health services, and recreation, the Career Fair represented a large swath of the southern Maine professional community.

Saint Joseph College Alumni, Brett O'Kelly, Jason Riley and
Danielle Capozza attended the career fair representing Tyler Technologies

“It’s great to see this number of employers,” explained Muhammad Humza Khan, a Talent and Diversity Specialist with Bangor Savings Bank. “And, the students I’ve met are very impressive,” he added.

While the Career Fair has a very strong connection to Saint Joseph’s, this event is always open to the entire community. Laurie Murphy, Assistant Professor of Human Resources in Saint Joseph’s Business Department, explained that this event is an opportunity to support the Maine economy and connect motivated, talented workers from the college and beyond with local employers.

The fair also provided Saint Joseph’s students with an intensive hands-on opportunity to participate in planning, managing, and running a large event. Over thirty students volunteered their time and expertise to make the fair a success, according to Steve McFarland, the Director of Career Development at Saint Joseph’s. Student involvement in the Career Fair ranged from running the check-in counter during the fair to reviewing resumes and LinkedIn profiles for fellow students and members of the community alike. Students even suggested new employers to invite. Tri-County Mental Health, McFarland said, was attending this year’s Career Fair thanks to a suggestion from a current Saint Joseph’s student. Students were even volunteering at the photo booth to offer all attendees the opportunity to sit for a professional portrait.

“This is an all-campus undertaking,” explained McFarland.

Historically, the students’ efforts have certainly paid off. Last year, McFarland stated that several Saint Joseph’s students met their future employers during the Career Fair. One of those students, Steven Albert, found his position as a management trainee at Enterprise during last year’s fair. He returned to the Saint Joseph’s campus last Wednesday to represent Enterprise’s Portland branch and their Management Training program.

“This is really ground-up training in how to run a business,” Albert said. And it all began with a handshake over the Enterprise table in the same room one year ago.

Other Saint Joseph’s alumni in attendance worked for Covetrus, a software company in Portland who designs technology to serve veterinarians and their teams, and Tyler Technologies in Yarmouth.

“We’ll recognize a lot of students who come through today,” explained Danielle Capozza, an Associate HR Representative at Tyler Technologies, who was one of three recent Saint Joseph’s graduates representing Tyler Tech at the Career Fair.

This personal connection to a fellow classmate can make networking and job hunting much less intimidating, explained Alyssa Theriault, a current HR Management Major at Saint Joseph’s and one of the student volunteers who helped to organize the Career Fair.

“I found an internship here,” Theriault said, explaining how a connection made at last year’s Career Fair led to her summer internship position with Norway Savings Bank. “It was a great experience,” she told me, with a cheerful smile.

Yet this annual Career and Internship Fair helps to build more than individual careers.

Professor Laurie Murphy explained that this event is an important part of building the Maine community. As a state with an aging population, Maine faces a demographic challenge. “We need a strong workforce to ensure a successful future for employers, their employees, and the entire state.”

“Many of our alums want to stay in Maine,” Murphy explained. This Career Fair gives the talented young students at Saint Joseph’s, and the larger community of Windham and Raymond, a chance to connect with employers, to learn of opportunities they may not have imagined, and to envision themselves building their career in Vacationland.

According to Theriault, living and working in Maine after graduating from Saint Joseph’s is an easy sell for most of her classmates.

“We spend four years here,” Theriault said, gesturing to Saint Joseph’s panoramic views of the ice-covered Sebago Lake and the white peak of Mount Washington. “How can you look at that view every day and then want to move to a big city?”

           

Former Maine firefighter with local ties needs a heart

"Tim is the one that usually will give the shirt off his back for anyone who needs help.” a fellow firefighter stated as he described Tim Smith of Naples, Maine. Now, he needs help.

In 2012, Smith was diagnosed with coronary artery disease. With this diagnosis, he discovered his arteries were narrowing, blocked and or becoming hardened. He ended up with a bypass graft in 2013. Six months later he began coughing up blood, in which they realized part of the bypass graft did not take. He began receiving stents, which is plastic or metal tubing that bypasses the blockage. While the stent had worked for a while, the stents stopped working. Smith’s stents became blocked up and he began to need new stents despite the fact that he was on medications as well as following doctor's orders.

A year after the bypass, doctors had discovered that Smith had built up scar tissue that was surrounding his lungs. His lungs were no longer inflating and deflating properly. Tim received a video assisted thoracic surgery. However, despite the newest surgery, the shortness of breath and chest discomfort continued.

Over the past few years he received seventeen cardiac catherizations and more stents. By November
2018 things began to spiral downhill and Smith began to become more symptomatic. By January he received an angioplasty. By February he had suffered a heart attack. At this point, more stents were out of the option due to the fact there was no more places to work with. Having a heart transplant was the only option since he has also maxed out all the medications available.

Everyone who knows Smith would describe the former firefighter the same way. Smith, 44, is no stranger to serving others and putting others first. In fact, for twenty-two years he had served for the fire service as well as EMS. He began in the fire service in 1992 at the Groveville station and progressed to a captain at the Buxton Fire Department as well as a captain for Naples and the EMS Chief in Sebago.

He was also an instructor for many years throughout Southern Maine. His wife, Shauna, is a paramedic and nurse. Both are accustomed to giving aid and helping others in situations, not receiving it.

Both Tim and Shauna work closely with firefighters in the Windham and Raymond communities. "Tim is a wonderful father, husband, person and fireman,” stated Tony Cataldi from Windham. “He has spent his life being there for others in their time of need and now he needs our help."

Raymond Firefighter, Gillian Thomas has known Smith and his wife, Shauna, for approximately 20 years. “They have always been dedicated to public safety in some role or another,” Thomas said. “We all cross paths in some way in our jobs, but I was lucky enough to work with both of them a few years ago and still stay in touch on Facebook. A lot of our mutual friends have worked for Tim when he was Chief of Sebago EMS, and with Shauna as a paramedic and RN, so there's a huge family of people gearing up to help them get through this. They have always been there when people need them, so if anyone deserves to be on the receiving end, it's them.” 

That's why on February 5, 2019 it came to a shock that to improve Smith’s quality of life, he would need a heart transplant. A heart transplant was the only way to improve Tim’s condition and still be a father to his two children as well as a husband.

“It really stinks for us to ask for help. We are the ones that are usually assisting others.” Shauna stated.

The Smiths are asking for help due to the fact Tim needs a heart. Transplant centers want to know that the recipient can pay for the organ, in this case the heart, as well as the anti-rejection medications and other medications where insurance seems to have a gap in coverage.

Anyone interested in helping the Smiths can donate via the GoFundMe page called 'Former Firefighter needs a Heart Transplant' or through the bank account that was set up at:  Tim's Transplant Fund, c/o ME Solutions Credit Union, 209b Western Ave., South Portland, ME 04106

For updates and to show your support, you can follow Tim at the Facebook page that was created www.facebook.com/SmithFamilyHeartTransplant
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Windham Community Center begins to take shape at third and final forum

Monday evening's survey included the choice of a
pool concept design.Submitted photo

By Matt Pascarella

The third and final scheduled public forum to discuss the planning and development of a Windham Community Center was held on Monday, March 25 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Town Hall community gym. Approximately 15-20 people were in attendance. The forum was also made available remotely via Facebook Live.

In the first forum, Linda Brooks, Director of Windham Parks and Recreation, stated that a survey was sent to Windham citizens in 2016 and 2017. The results indicated the want for a community center with intentions and purposes of giving Windham a sense of place that accommodates the needs and activities of all demographics.

The proposed location is the Morrell property located near the rotary and Smith Cemetery at the intersection of Routes 302 and 202. This property is town owned and is currently being evaluated.

In the second forum, the design firm, Harriman (previously known as Harriman Association), proposed three concept designs: 1) a 20,000 square foot building with two floors that would include all the critical items such as a 2-court gym and indoor track, two locker rooms, pool, lobby and adult fitness area. 2) a “phase” approach which would entail constructing the center in phases. Still 20,000 square feet, it would contain a 2-court gym and indoor track, two locker rooms, a lobby, a 365 square foot kitchen, two multi-purpose rooms, a teen room, a senior room and administrative offices. 3) an all-purpose building: a roughly 60,000 square foot building that would include a three-court gym and indoor track, large pool, small pool, two locker rooms and a 625 square foot kitchen.

All designs would include outdoor space for an athletic field, playground and parking spaces.

In the third forum, Mark Lee and Emily Innes, both of Harriman, revealed Windham residents selected the third concept design, the all-purpose building by a vast majority. Concept design number three would include: a three-court gym and indoor track, 2 pools, locker rooms, kitchen, youth and adult wellness studio, childcare room and administrative office. While the original square footage estimate was 60,000; given the contents of the building and its surroundings, a new square footage estimate of roughly 70,000-84,000 was given.

Harriman presented Monday night’s attendees with three pool designs. A competition style pool, with six lanes, ideal for swim meets and practices; a family pool, which has more of a wide-open swim area with a ramp for entry; and a hybrid pool which has a competition section on one side and a wide-open swim area on the other.

Attendees were given ballots and broke into groups to discuss which pool they thought was best. For those who were watching via Facebook Live, there is a similar ballot available on the Windham Parks and Recreation website. When the ballots were counted from the meeting, the hybrid pool came in first, then the competition pool followed by the family pool. A final pool concept design will be decided next month.

At this point in the process, Harriman’s responsibility is to take the input from the final forum and present it to the building committee, deciding if the program elements desired by the community have been captured in concept design number three. If so, Harriman will do a final concept design to get a more concrete sense of the area of the building and what the construction budget will be. A study will be written based on the concept design and that study will be given to the building committee and eventually presented to the town council.

“I think there’s a tremendous amount of excitement towards this project,” added Pat Moody, Chair of the Windham Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. “The data is clear. There is overwhelming support for concept number three. I think the next phase is figuring out what the cost will be, the revenue generating opportunities, how we can fund it and make it a reality.”

Council member, Jarod Maxfield is behind the community center effort. “I think it’s a great idea to explore and I’m definitely behind it,” he stated. “I need to know more about the revenue and costs and how we’re going to make money, but to be good for the town and the residents and especially with our aging population and all the families moving to town, it’s a needed resource.”

Lee projected the rough cost of this facility would be between $36.2 million and $39.8 million, with a projected timeline of 3-5 years from concept to construction.

For more information about each concept design and to vote on the pool concept design of your choice, contact the Windham Parks and Recreation Department at (207) 892-1905 or ljbrooks@windhammaine.us. or visit www.windhamrecreation.com.