Throughout the state public schools are working around budget cuts. Teachers are forced to make do with less while still passing increasingly loftier educational goals. Maine teachers are forced to wait longer to buy new reading material or classroom supplies. Educational budget cuts have even begun to take away jobs. With all this emphasis on money in education why is the town of Ashland, Maine building a multi-million dollar new school building funded primarily by the state?
The new school has many innovative and useful design features to bring to the small community. The two original school buildings will be consolidated into one Pre-K to Senior facility. The two story design will allow maximum separation of high school and elementary students with the younger children primarily on the first floor and older students concentrated on the second floor. A new wood and metal shop, regulation size gymnasium, and above ground cafeteria will be located on the ground floor. The second floor will house new science labs, distance learning rooms, and spare group work locations. The school is designed to modern standards of energy efficiency, and interior environment conditions.
This new facility with its great features does come at a price, roughly 22,000,000 dollars. Of this sum the Town of Ashland is only required to pay 1,720,000 dollars. The rest of the cost will be paid for by the state. The eighteen acres of land purchased for the new school's development is worth 275,000 dollars. 235,000 dollars of this will be paid by the state. This school project is a very large expenditure our state has sanctioned.
The construction of the new school facility worth this exuberant cost. The new facility will unit the two schools saving money through consolidation of resources. It will be more efficient to heat, transport students, and manage. Two entirely different and stand alone staffs were required to run the separate buildings this will be eliminated in the new structure. Custodians and other staff will not need to shift back and forth between the two structures wasting time, equipment, and gas. The new one building design will save on heating in not only presenting less surface area to the elements, but in its new better insulated design.
The older buildings were out-dated to the point of not complying with several regulations. The most prominent of these was the cafeteria in the elementary school located in the basement. Ordinances for public cafeterias require them to be above ground for fire safety reasons. The new gymnasium will also bring the school into compliance with a regulation size basket ball court, allowing the Ashland basketball teams will be able to compete in their own gym.
The education of future generations is the cornerstone of a civilization. Often when thinking about schooling we focus on books, computers, and other learning tools. It is easy to take the buildings that house and facilitate this accumulation of knowledge for granted.


Resources

Major capital school construction projects 2004-2005 project information. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.maine.gov/education/const/pr700.html

New msad #32 pre-k - 12 school. (2009, May 09). Retrieved from http://www.sad32.org/new-school-proposal.html

Acadia Trip Saturday All Invited

Lifeline will be sponsoring a hiking trip to Acadia National Park this Saturday. The trip will be for any University of Maine students who wish to participate. Limited numbers of seats are available on the bus, so participation slots are on a first come first serve basis. The trip will cost only five dollars, and students are advised to bring their own lunches.
Stephanie and Ryan Bethel will be hosting the trip. They take University of Maine students on outdoor recreation trips almost every week. Their expeditions are supported by Lifeline allowing them to keep the costs low thus, making the trips more feasible for students. One anonymous participant in the pre-trip meeting stated, “For five dollars I couldn't reasonably pass up this trip.” Lifeline, a Christian organization with a chapter here on the University of Maine campus, encourages outdoor activities as a chance for students to grow. Their mission statement is as follows, “To use the outdoor experience to help students grow in relationship with God, in relationship with each other, in character and in leadership.”Even though the trip is hosted by a Christian organization people of all faith are encouraged to participate.
Those students adventurous enough for the trip are scheduled to hike Bubble and several Cadillac Mountain trails if time allows. These trails are not difficult to traverse offering little challenge to experienced climbers, but instead a chance for students to enjoy nature together in a fun and friendly atmosphere. From these trails students should get a wonderful view of Mount Desert Island and the Atlantic Ocean while being perfectly safe. All Lifeline trip leaders hold current CPR and Wilderness First Responder certifications in case of an accident.
If you are an outdoor enthusiast, bored, or in need of exercise for five dollars and a peanut butter sandwich you can cure those ailments.


Resources:
Campus Crusades for Life Lifeline, Retrieved February 19, 2010, Web Site: http://lifelinesministry.com/

University of Maine Firstclass-Announcements and Alerts-Explore Acadia National Park this Saturday only $5, 2/17/2010

Nelson Craig Entrepenuerial Mason

In an economically repressed region, during a recession, and out of season for your chosen profession, many would find it difficult to get work. Not Nelson Craig, a self employed mason, who has been force to turn several potential clients down due to over booking. Craig's business is based out of Masardis, a small town in Aroostook County Maine. I chose Nelson Craig for this article to see what makes made him different from others who are not fairing as well during these hard economic times.
When asked about how he maintains such a high client base Craig responded,”Reputation, that is it in a nutshell in this area.” Reputation to Craig means doing the best possible job for his clients, and hoping they spread his name to their friends. Craig takes great pride in his work making it easy for clients to recognize his skills and devotion to giving them a good product. He has done work for several lodges in the area that have brought him business from around the world. This summer Craig worked for a Swiss family who had visited one of the lodges on vacation.
Craig claims his key to being busy all year round is to not limit his work to only masonry. In the winter he does cabinetry, ceramic tile jobs, flooring, dry-walling, and just about any other carpentry work. The easiest way to stay busy in Aroostook County is to diversify. “I specialize in masonry with 35 years experience, but I have worked closely with family who specialize in the carpentry trades,” says Nelson Craig. Craig's family has a long lineage of carpentry; his grandfather, father, brother, and uncles have all been in the trade. When masonry business is slow like in the winter he is able to fall back on this knowledge. Craig credits a big part of his success to accommodating his clients. Often situations arise in the construction industry when extra or alternative work for a client presents itself. Nelson Craig claims that taking on that extra work for the client gains their respect and shows that he is willing to accept changes by the client. He still gets compensation for these jobs over the estimate cost but the ability to adapt gains him credit in the clients eyes.
The biggest idea to take away from Nelson Craig's entrepreneurial mindset is adaptivity. It is easier to survive in a constantly changing economy if you can change with the times.

Compairing News Formats T.V. and Paper

For this article I watched the WAGM News Source 8 newscast for February 4. News Source 8 is the news program for Aroostook County. While watching the news program I focused on the differences between the televised news material, and the written editorials we have been covering in class.

The style for television journalism is very similar to that of writing a lead. The sentence structures are simple, and do not contain many adjectives or adverbs. The reporters are relaying the important information to the viewer in the most direct manor, letting the images fill in the details. Simple sentence structures may also keep the reporter and the audience from being confused. There is no going back for either party. Newscasts also tend to use active voice like news articles. This draws the viewers attention to the subject of the sentences, and makes the sentence more comprehensible. Leads cannot simply be made into newscasts.

While leads and newscasts have a lot in common there are some major differences between the two mediums that should be addressed. Newscasts do not site as many sources as news articles. This maybe due to time constraints or a lack of interest by the audience, people tend to believe what they hear. I also noticed newscasts tend to focus more on the humanistic side of the event. There were lots of interviews and personal opinions expressed during the news program while newspaper articles tend to focus more on the information. The section on the University of Fort Kent was mostly interviews with important figures in the development and use of the building. This helps with the story's credibility by showing the feelings of those involved.

While watching I noticed multiple tense changes, and improper grammar. This would be unacceptable in a written news article, but it is overlooked on television. Errors and a less formal style may make the reporters and news anchors more human to the viewer. The news anchors also chatted back and forth during the less formal parts of the news program such as the weather and sports.

The two mediums television and newspapers have a lot in common in their presentations, because they both focus on making information easily understood. However, I feel the television news is a more forgiving media to present on.

You can watch WAGM New Source 8 here:

http://www.wagmtv.com/newssource8/Newscast.aspx