It has been just a year since a visionary Presque Isle couple named the first class of scholars in a program designed to help high school graduates achieve their goals and, in time, help strengthen the economy of Aroostook County.
In founding the Aroostook Aspirations Initiative, Ray and Sandra Gauvin not only provided funds for graduates of Aroostook County high schools to attend college, but also formed partnerships with members of northern Maine’s business community and with the county’s four institutions of higher education: University of Maine campuses in Fort Kent and Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle and Husson University’s Presque Isle campus.
Their goal: to keep capable young people in their home communities, where they can excel in their chosen careers, by providing networking events and professional development opportunities during their college years, as well as financial assistance to assure the experience ends with a degree.
Today, Aroostook Aspirations Initiative President Sandra Gauvin looks back and says, “What a difference a year makes.” Reflecting on comments from the first class of Gauvin scholars, she observed, “They understand much more about life and about living than just one year ago.”
Gauvin recalled the day in May 2014 when she and Executive Director April Flagg visited each school district in Aroostook County to surprise the students who had been named Gauvin Scholars. One graduate from each of the county’s 16 high schools who planned to attend one of the four colleges in the county received a $1,000 scholarship, which was matched by the institutions with fee waivers for books or tuition.
“It’s impossible to describe feelings when you deliver that kind of exciting, heart-warming news,” Gauvin said. “Happy tears were shed by all, even the guidance counselors.”
After a year in college, Gauvin scholars report life-changing experiences and lessons.
“One thing I have learned in college that I will be able to carry with me throughout my life — it’s plain and simple, time management,” said Krista Beaupre of Caribou, a nursing student at UMFK. “In high school, I would get to assignments when I could and got stuff done by its deadline, but nothing was ever pressing and time with friends never had to be scheduled in.
“Well, in college when you have two exams, a 5-7-page paper and a presentation all due within three days, you learn to become organized and plan out what you will do and how long you will do it.”
Brittany Drost of Mars Hill, who is pursuing a career in social work at UMPI, found that career decisions made in high school were completely different after a year in college. “Don’t be afraid to change your major,” Drost would tell new college students. “It’s about what makes you happy, not what everyone else wants you to do.”
Shayanna Smith of Fort Fairfield thought college would be like high school when she entered NMCC to study nursing. “I was extremely wrong,” she said. “College is so different from high school in that you can make your schedule the way you want it, and fill it with classes that are interesting.”
The Aroostook Aspirations Initiative experience included activities to forge lasting bonds among the students. Flagg remembered the weekend at NMCC last July called SHANTE, an acronym for Skills, Habits, Assets, Networking, Teamwork and Education. Students met in groups to discuss their apprehensions about entering college.
“They found they all had the same fears, especially a fear of failure,” Flagg said, recalling that students clustered in groups reflecting their northern, southern and central Aroostook origins on Friday evening, but Saturday morning they had pulled all the tables together into one circle. Flagg was moved to tears by the symbolic gesture.
“I had to leave the room,” she said of her emotional response. “They want to bond.”
Stephanie Hammond of Easton felt that bond after her mother died halfway through her first semester at NMCC.
“Andrew and Nick would not let her quit,” Flagg said of the support she received from Andrew White of Washburn and Nick Belanger of Ashland.
Gauvin reported, “Stephanie completed her year very successfully, overcoming personal tragedy in the process.”
This month, the students will gather in Fort Kent for a weekend titled AWESOME: Acquire, Wisdom, Experience, Skills, Opportunity, Mentoring and Energy. And when the 22 new Gauvin scholars meet for SHANTE in July, members of the 2014 class will be there to mentor them.
“These are kids who want to stay in The County,” Flagg said. And she shared “The Aroostook Aspirations Song,” written by the first Gauvin scholars, to illustrate their feelings.
“Home”
I’m done running away
From the place where I belong
And I’ve got something to say
So I’ll put it in a song
There’s no place like this
Safest haven that we know
There’s too much here we could miss
It will always be our home.
Chorus:
This is more than an empty place
There’s something behind each smiling face
That lets you know you’re not alone
So put aside your greatest fear
You’ll always find a safe place here
And you’re never on your own
These Aroostook Aspirations
Will always make this place our home.
For information about Aroostook Aspirations Initiative, to make a donation or to become a volunteer, contact the Presque Isle office at 760-0558 or visit gauvinfund.org. Aroostook Aspirations Initiative/Gauvin Fund is also on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Kathryn Olmstead is a former University of Maine associate dean and associate professor of journalism living in Aroostook County, where she publishes the quarterly magazine Echoes. Her column appears in this space every other Friday. She can be reached at kathryn.olmstead@umit.maine.edu or P.O. Box 626, Caribou, ME 04736.