March Friends Meeting

The program for March 13 Friends’ meeting will be a series of book reviews by area children and adults. Come and learn what books are currently being enjoyed by Skowhegan readers. The meeting will be held at 7 PM at the Library.

Valentine Craft Party

Valentine Craft PartyPaper, ribbons and lace were combined by a group of creative crafters to make beautiful Valentines on February 8. Participants appeared to have fun at this annual library party organized by Lois Moody, Kathy Hughes and Corrilla Hastings.

Library Lawn Sale

Saturday, May 18 is the date for the Friends’ annual Spring Lawn Sale to benefit the Library. The location will be the Hastings’ barn on the Malbons Mills Road. We’re looking for donations of toys, furniture, books, tools, clothing and household items. You may arrange to bring your donations to the barn now by calling 474-3949. If you need trucking, please let us know.

Library Week, April 14 to 20

In observation of Library Week, the Friends will once again sponsor poetry and poster contests for Skowhegan school children. Prizes will be awarded at an Open House on April 20.

Trustees News

The Bloomfield Trustees Library Board met February 5th. Several items were discussed. Lee Granville reported on the noisy light fixtures in the Children’s Library. An electrician has replaced the dangerous, worn ballasts with new ones. The noise has ceased. Mr. Granville received authorization to install a light fixture in the stacks where one was missing.This has been done.

Childrens’ Room News

A Weeding Committee consisting of volunteers under the direction of Kathy Hughes, who has a Masters Degree in Library Science, was authorized by the Bloomfield Trustees to begin work in the Children’s Library. The Committee has met on three Mondays and worked for three houurs on each of those days. In excess of 200 outdated or obsolete nonfiction books were scheduled to be discarded. Approximately 150 were marked for upgrading A list was made of all books to be upgraded for ease in reordering. The Friends of the Library plan to raise money for replacement books. The Trustees were informed of the book sale being held at the Skowhegan Mr. Paperback. Kathy Hughes was authorised to spend up to $200 for bargains in children’s books. She was able to purchase 33 books, half nonfiction, the other half fiction requested by Childrens’ Librarian Lois Moody.

Secretary’s Report of Friends Meeting January 9, 2002

The response to the College Orientation program at the January 9th meeting of the Friends of the Library was gratifying. A number of high school sophomores and their parents attended to learn about area colleges and their admission procedures. The speakers were Jared Rivers, University of Maine at Farmington, Tammy Light, University of Maine at Orono, Jennifer Quinlan, Thomas College and Eric Bertelsen, Colby College.

We learned that UMF has 1500 to 1600 applicants each year with space for only 500 Freshmen. The required courses for entrance are: 4 years of college English, three years of math – usually Algebra I and II plus geometry, at least two years of lab science and two years of social science of which one must be United States History.

SATs are not required at Farmington, but they are looking for a certain range of scores.

Mr. Rivers urges students to visit the campus, set up interviews and generally scope out the atmosphere to find if this is the college they really want to attend.

The University of Maine at Orono is the flagship college of the university system. They have room for 1865 students each year. (1865 is the year the school was founded.) UMO does require SATs. There are five colleges at Orono; Education, Career Exploration, Forestry and Agriculture, Engineering and Business, Policy and Health. Orono has 20 sports programs and is the only school in Maine with Division 1 sports. There is ROTC for the army, navy and marines at Orono. One student asked if one could take some core classes in Farmington, in order to save dormitory costs, and transfer to Orono. Light suggested that the student check with Orono to be sure what scores could be transferred as some class hours may not apply to a specific degree.

Eric Bertelsen suggests that students decide what they want before trying to get into Colby. Of 25 % percent who think they know what they want, 75% change their minds. Visit several schools, small, medium or large to find a sense of campus.

Colby does look at SATs, however high scores are no guarantee, low scores are not necessarily prohibitive. Mr. Bertelsen says extra activities add to a student’s chances. “Don’t try to impress, do what interests you or what you are passionate about.” The college is not impressed by 15 activities, but is more impressed with dedication to one or two. Colby College is an opportunity to go to school relatively close to home and meet people from all over the world. As much as 12% of the students come from countries other than the United States of America. Only 10% come from Maine. The cost is high, $34,000 per year, but don’t let the sticker price make you cross Colby off your list of possibilities. 40% of the students receive financial aid.

One package is $22,000 per year. 20% of the financial budget goes to Maine students. Mr. Bertelsen urges you not to be discouraged if you cannot afford Colby. There are other very similar colleges where you can be happy. There is a standard student aid form which can be filled out once and copies sent to several schools. One can even apply on line which may be faster. Colby tells what aid one gets at the time of acceptance, other colleges may take longer.

Thomas College is a small private institution with a total of 1100 students. There is a 17 to 1 professor student ratio with an average class of 20. Jennifer Quinlan says Thomas College has just introduced a guaranteed job placement program. Every student is guaranteed a job in the field studied for within six months or Thomas will pay the student loan for one year. If the student is not happy with the job after six months, he or she may go back to Thomas for one year for study in another field.

Acceptance at Thomas is based on high school transcripts – what classes were taken and how well they were done and SATs. They look for the ability to succeed, reading letters of recommendation and personal essays. Ms. Quinlan stresses that applications and essays submitted on line must have proper capitalization and punctuation, not the chat room abbreviations that are so popular.

Thomas has rolling admissions competing against a standard. If the numbers of applications reaching that standard are not sufficient for the year’s enrollment, the standards are lowered. On the other hand, if the applicants are of a higher quality, standards may be raised.

The speakers were asked about including a portfolio on a CD with the application. Orono is not overly impressed with extra information and rarely reads it. If the grades are there, you will be accepted. Thomas College looks for more input in the personal essay than in a movie or CD. But if you send one in, it had better be good. If, for example, you sent a violin solo on a CD to the music director, it had better be very good. Some colleges just toss CDs into a box and never look at them.

How many applications should be sent out? One should apply to the dream school, the more probable school and a fall back school. If the desired college is highly competitive, one should apply to several. You cannot be sure how the financial aid will be figured. If you apply to three to seven, you will have more options as to the financial package, etc.

The speakers were awarded a round of applause from the gratified audience of students and parents.