Megan Cole – University Times

From Maine to Tanzania

Michaela Therrien looks up at her final slide, clearly missing Tanzania.

When students get the chance to study abroad, they may go to England, France or even Germany. For Michaela Therrien, she and her classmate Lauren went with their professor, Shirley Rush, to Tanzania. “For junior year, we have to do 200 volunteer hours and I decided to go to Tanzania because Shirley has been taking students since 2016,” Michaela said. Tanzania is a country located in eastern Africa. “I wanted to experience something interesting. I’ve never been out of the country and I wanted to because we volunteered in an orphanage for seven weeks. So, I wanted that experience,” Michaela said. Continue reading “From Maine to Tanzania”

Spotlight

Wesleyan, Baptist and Catholic are some of the more common Christian religions that people hear of. Unfortunately, for children who were Catholic, it wasn’t a good religion to be in. A team of investigative journalists–Robby, Mike, Sacha and Matt–who work at The Boston Globe start working on a story about a Catholic priest molesting children. Robby is the leader of them all and gives the other three the go ahead to look into it. Continue reading “Spotlight”

All the President’s Men

Watergate. A place some have heard of. It was broken into by five armed robbers in the ‘60s. The men were arrested and two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post, were assigned to the case. The men worked on it because they knew there was more to it than just an attempted robbery. Woodward and Bernstein went to the houses of those who worked in the White House and tried to get some information on what was going on. Sadly, most wouldn’t discuss it. Continue reading “All the President’s Men”

Her Last Year at UMPI

Picking out your home for the next four years can be hard. For Brandy Smith, a senior PCJ major at UMPI, she didn’t find it hard at all. “So, I was the editor of my high school newspaper. I went to Mt. View High School and I wanted to major in journalism and I was looking and looking at NESCOM, and it was very expensive and complicated because it was part of Husson. I decided to look elsewhere, and I checked out UMPI. My friends and I came up and toured UMPI and I met Dr. J and thought it was a perfect fit,” Brandy said. Continue reading “Her Last Year at UMPI”

How Much Do We Pay for Electricity?

Evan Zarkadas explains his slides to the viewers of his presentation.

Electricity has become a necessity among many people today. People use it to watch movies, charge up phones and be able to see in the dark. Evan Zarkadas is a junior history major at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and chose this topic to be his presentation because he noticed that Maine has to pay higher prices for electricity. Our electricity doesn’t come from the United States, it comes from Canada. “Maine is the eighth most expensive state for energy costs,” Evan said to the crowd of students. Continue reading “How Much Do We Pay for Electricity?”

Sometimes the Best Service Dog Is a Horse

Dr. Jacqui Lowman has had Saint, who has been helping with her mobility needs, for the last nine years. “Saint has been a good dog. But unfortunately, it’s time for me to look for another service animal,” Dr. J said. As much as she has enjoyed having Saint, she has decided to go with something that will live longer. Dr. J has decided to get a horse. “Her name is Angel and she is a Dales Pony. She is black and will be 30 inches tall when she is fully grown,” Dr J said. Dr. J decided to get a pony over another dog because of the heartache. “Dogs have been great, but it’s always breaking your heart when they die. My miniature would live two to three times longer than a dog, so I wouldn’t have to go through the heartache as often,” Dr. J said. Continue reading “Sometimes the Best Service Dog Is a Horse”

Photos That Stood Out

Who hasn’t taken a picture? Most everyone has some form of social media and has taken a photo and posted it and has received praise for how good it looked that day. Well, for photojournalists, that isn’t always the case. They may post pictures on the web and show a story they covered and receive praise for it. But they have to sometimes go to some of the worst natural disasters and get photos of them. “You rage inside at the helplessness. To try to deal with it, you seek out elements of humanity and courage.”—Carol Guzy. Continue reading “Photos That Stood Out”

The Mother of UMPI

Nancy Nichols smiles as she awaits her next appointment.

There’s nothing any greater than a mother figure. Nancy Nichols seems to fulfill that role for many people. Nancy started working as an administrative specialist at the University of Maine at Presque Isle in 2011 and has been making parents and students alike feel right at home ever since. ” My position is the administrative specialist for the admissions office. I do a multitude of things, mostly taking care of visitors when they come. Organize their campus visits and groups visits from high schools that come visit the school,” Nancy said. Continue reading “The Mother of UMPI”

When UMPI Is the Place to Be

Who says video games are just for kids? Jennifer Ball’s favorite pastime is playing World of Warcraft or Diablo. The second of three children, Jennifer grew up in Portage, Maine. Though she doesn’t have any children of her own, she has always loved working with students. “Mainly just because I wanted to be able to interact with people on a regular basis,” Jen said. Jen got her position as an administrative specialist at the University of Maine at Presque Isle in January 2018. “My job is to serve the housing and residence life associate director and the director of our health services,” Jen said. Jen had been trying to land a position at UMPI for the last 12 to 15 years, wanting a job that allowed her to work with students and community members. Continue reading “When UMPI Is the Place to Be”

First Harvest Festival a Success!

People look around to see what treats they can buy. Photo by Jacob Pelkey

Some people got some Christmas shopping done early. The Micmac Harvest Festival took place on Nov. 17. About 16 vendors from Aroostook County went to Micmac Farms from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. and sold their goods. Some of the items sold were pickled foods, jellies, jams, teas, meat and baked goods. Continue reading “First Harvest Festival a Success!”