Aroostook County’s population has been in decline for more than a century. Worse, the working age percentage of the population has dropped to about a quarter.
Ray and Sandy Gauvin of Presque Isle have long been concerned about the county’s outmigration. And they’ve been quietly doing something to stop it. To date, they have awarded more than 100 scholarships to county students.
In 2011, they took their philanthropic work to a new level by founding the Aroostook Aspirations Initiative, which aimed to get more of the county’s students to attend and complete college while also growing the county’s economy.
Last year, one graduating senior from each of the county’s 16 high schools received a Gauvin Family Scholarship. Typically, the $2,000 awards don’t go to the schools’ top students; those students, after all, are likely to get other help and encouragement. Instead, they target students who will be the first in their families to attend college. The hope is that they will stay in the county when they graduate to help rebuild the Aroostook economy just by being a part of it.
The county’s four higher education institutions — the University of Maine at Fort Kent, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College and the Husson University campus in Presque Isle — have all agreed to give $1,000 scholarships to the scholars for their second year of college.
Since money is only one stumbling block to college, the initiative, like the Mitchell Scholarship, includes other kinds of support, such as a weekend for scholarship recipients to get to know — and support — one another and another weekend to network with local entrepreneurs so they can learn what skills are needed for today’s jobs. They also hear firsthand stories about how college helped those entrepreneurs succeed. An emergency fund is also available to help students with emergency expenses that can sometimes derail a college career.
The mother of one of last year’s Gauvin Scholars recently died. Two other scholars visited the young woman’s home every day to ensure she went to class, even if she wore her pajamas because she was too sad to get dressed.
Local businesses enlist Gauvin Scholars as interns during the school year and summers. During the students’ last year of college, entrepreneurship training is available to encourage students to plan for and start their own businesses.
The percentage of high school graduates in Aroostook County who go directly to college is above the state average of 62 percent, according to a 2014 brief by the Mitchell Institute. However, their college persistence rate — the number of students who return for a second year — is the lowest in the state, at nearly 78 percent. Both rates are much lower in all regions of the state for economically disadvantaged students.
The percentage of the Aroostook County population that is of working age had dropped to 27 percent in 2011, below the 30 percent threshold that is considered sustainable, according to a presentation from the Aroostook Partnership for Progress.
The Gauvins are well aware of these demographic challenges, but they are also strongly rooted in Aroostook County and want others to have the opportunities and success they have enjoyed. “The more young people we can convince that Aroostook is an opportunity-rich place to live, the higher our workforce population, the more need we have for diverse businesses, and the larger our population becomes,” they said in a statement. “It benefits our schools, towns and business communities to grow our youth population.”
It is also about closing a loop. When Ray Gauvin graduated from Presque Isle High School, he was awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Mark and Emily Turner Scholarship Fund. Mark Turner told Ray — who later started a financial planning business and franchises of a payroll services firm — to give it back when he was successful.
He and Sandy have given it back exponentially. More important, they offer a prime example of entrepreneurship and community building — two ingredients that will be critical to boosting Aroostook County.
