CASTINE, Maine — The Navy’s top brass had some advice for Maine Maritime Academy graduates on Saturday: Keep in touch.
Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer told the Class of 2019 during its commencement in the Alexander Field House that Maine and Maritime Academy are rich in resources that can guide and inspire them throughout the long careers that await them.
“This region has always punched above its weight when it comes to production and innovation. Scientists and engineers who sat where you sit today now push the boundaries of energy exploration, shipping, cyberspace and outer space with the same spirit that guided countless navigators and explorers before you,” Spencer said.
“You all represent an amalgam that will only grow stronger as time goes by,” Spencer added. “Keep in touch, wherever life takes you. This can be one of the most amazing and valuable resources that you own.”
Spencer’s words underlined a transformation that the 950-student academy has begun with a campaign to raise $20 million for scholarships to help undergraduates attend the school. About 80 percent of the student body requires need-based aid, school officials have said. About $14 million has been raised so far.
Just under 200 students marched in commencement, including 184 Bachelor of Science degree candidates; three Associate of Science degree candidates in Small Vessel Operations; and six students who are receiving Master of Science degrees. About 71 percent of academy enrollees are from Maine. Twenty-nine percent represent 36 states and India, China, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Macau, Armed Forces Europe and the Northern Mariana Islands, as of fall 2019, said Jennifer DeJoy, director of college relations.
About 90 percent of the school’s graduates get jobs within 90 days of getting their diplomas, DeJoy said.
Graduates Amanda Holewiak and Alayne Felix already have jobs lined up, they said. Holewiak of Somerset, Mass., will be working at NextEra Energy, which helps build wind and solar farms, and Felix of Mahopac, New York, will start with Ratheon in that company’s naval defense division.
Teammates on the school’s women’s basketball team, Holewiak said that for she and Felix, graduation represents the “culmination of four years of hard work on the court and in the classroom.”
“I really never thought I would actually get here,” Felix said, describing the intense competition of making it into and finishing MMA, “so now that I am standing here, it’s really surreal.”
“I just didn’t know if I was smart enough,” she added.
Felix might have a chance to return to a new facility the school hopes to build. Maine Maritime hopes to close on the purchase of a portion of the former Verso Paper mill site in Bucksport to launch a continuing-education annex that would help returning students continue to qualify as maritime sailors. The Bucksport Planning Board approved the complex April 16.
The closing is expected within a few months.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said after the commencement that she hoped to help MMA acquire a new training ship sometime soon. The academy’s Training Ship State of Maine training vessel is about 20 years old and growing in need of replacement, said Collins, who attended the graduation and introduced Spencer.
The academy is expected to get a new training ship this year, the third such training vessel in the National Security Multi-mission Vessel (NSMV) program, which replaces aging trainers with purpose-built modern vessels, officials said.
Designed specifically for training purposes, the new ships have eight classrooms, a full training bridge, lab spaces and an auditorium. They include two separate engine rooms providing significant spaces for engine training. Plans call for the ship to berth up to 1,000 people in times of humanitarian need, such as TS State of Maine did in response to Hurricane Katrina.