{"id":6538,"date":"2021-04-01T09:52:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T13:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6538"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:52:07","slug":"umpis-very-own-secret-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/04\/01\/umpis-very-own-secret-society\/","title":{"rendered":"UMPI\u2019s Very Own Secret Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For all of those Riverdale junkies, mystery fanatics and elite conspiracy theorists out there, have no fear for I have the inside scoop on UMPI\u2019s very own secret society. Have you ever wondered who\u2019s behind the scenes at the University of Maine in Presque Isle? Who holds all the secrets and mysteries of your beloved college? Well, today\u2019s your lucky day! Before I can get into the details of this Secret Society, we have to look back to the past so that we can look forward to where this mystery organization is today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The college was founded in 1903 and back then was referred to as the Aroostook State Normal School. From the 1890s to the early 1900s, the residents of Presque Isle were working toward creating the post-secondary school. Over the years, the university has changed its name four times. In 1952 it was called the Aroostook State Teachers College. In 1965, it was the Aroostook State College. In 1968, it was named the Aroostook State College of the University of Maine. And last, in 1971, it was renamed what we proudly call it today:\u00a0 the University of Maine at Presque Isle. But, something that not many know about is that the college\u2019s very own secret society were members of that same community that pushed for the college\u2019s creation, founding the college and controlling things behind the scenes. How could they do this and why?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s take a step back and look into the mysterious Secret Society. The Secret Society came together a few years before the college was founded. In 1895 some local citizens decided that they needed to take matters into their own hands for creating a secondary school in Aroostook County. The records are slim and the names are almost all lost, but we still have some secondhand accounts of what happened during the first few years of the Secret Society\u2019s creation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMy great grandpappy used to tell me stories about how he and his fellow Secret Society members made IBIS. He was always all serious like when talking about those days. Never really got into the finer details while still sharing the real fun stories,\u201d retired dog walker, Annabel Cranberry, said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201c I never really understood why they named it IBIS until they invented Google translate. Some even say that the college\u2019s mascot was named after them. They were always a secret bunch of people. I guess that\u2019s kind of in the name description if you know what I mean.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Annabelle\u2019s great grandpappy was one out of three creators of IBIS. Mr. Cranberry and his two childhood friends, Mr. Pineapple and Mr. Pear, created IBIS with the sole intention of staying in the shadows while having control over the college. This is why they donated $3 million to the creation of the school. This was light pocket change to the very wealthy trio. For the people who knew them personally, they were referred to as the smoothie brothers. Before and after the creation of IBIS, the trio invented the smoothie. This gave them all the capital they would need for their new Secret Society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why would three grown men named after various fruits need to create a secret society? What would they want to keep so secret that even after decades, no one has heard of them? Well, I have the answer for you: the fall of the junk food empire. Yes, the three men who invented the smoothie, which solely profits from people eating healthy, wish to destroy the junk food trade. Yet another question arises: How would destroying the junk food economy and being the Secret Society of a college work? Since most of the diet of the average college student consists of junk food, wouldn\u2019t that be the place to start? Take down the junk food hierarchy starting with the most impressionable minds in the world: college students.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You\u2019re probably thinking, Camryn, if this huge Secret Society was created solely on the destruction of the junk food economy, why hasn\u2019t it happened yet after decades? Look no further than your college cafeteria. Yes, all the way back to 1895 when the smoothie brothers created the Secret Society IBIS, they put in motion the master plan of replacing all the junk food in the college with healthier options for the growing minds of our country. There may be ice cream and desserts for you to choose from, but there\u2019s also a fully stocked salad bar and many vegan options. From gluten-free pasta to fresh-cut cucumber, our very own food court is the product of a very powerful Secret Society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201c I enjoy the salad bar at the cafeteria! I always had a sneaking suspicion that there were some higher forces at work when I enjoy a good Caesar salad from the food court at UMPI,\u201d freshman Tina Grapefruit commented.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When the phrase \u201cSecret Society\u201d comes to mind, usually people think of the CIA or some mysterious band of ninjas or assassins. But in all actuality, a secret society could be something as simple as men named after fruits trying to abolish all junk food from the world. You can never judge a book by its cover. And you can never judge a Secret Society just because it\u2019s a Secret Society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For all of those Riverdale junkies, mystery fanatics and elite conspiracy theorists out there, have no fear for I have the inside scoop on UMPI\u2019s very own secret society. Have you ever wondered who\u2019s behind the scenes at the University of Maine in Presque Isle? Who holds all the secrets and mysteries of your beloved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8298,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6538\/revisions\/8298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}