I would like to tell people about Joan Beal, who is running for representative of Maine House District 81.

I have known Joan for 15 years, as we are both members of the First Universalist Church Norway, where we have worked together on several committees.

Joan has been involved in a number of community service organizations, including the Norway Budget Committee, the Comprehensive Planning Committee, the Climate Action Advisory Committee, and as a leader of the Save the Belfry Committee for her church.

She has been a voice for children as an educator for over 30 years, working in classrooms, halfway houses, treatment programs and in her work as a court-appointed special advocate for children.

Her experience and vision are broad, and we would do well to elect her as our representative in Augusta.

Janice Cardoza, Norway

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BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – Girls from across the state are getting the chance to explore technology at Husson University free of charge through Educate Maine’s Project Login’s partnership with Girls Who Code.

“The piece that I really think that the girls like about Girls Who Code is they offer this sort of safe space to learn, to try, to fail, to troubleshoot,” says Project Login Program Director Angela Oechslie about the organization’s years-long partnership with the camp.

This year, the five-day camp was hosted at Husson University.

For Husson School of Technology and Innovation Outreach Specialist Ashleigh Page, the collaboration between the university and the summer camp made for a perfect match.

“We wanted to support it because we really believe in getting technology in the hands of as many people as possible,” Page explains. “And I think for girls especially, getting an opportunity to go to camp, get hands on, and kind of explore for the first time, maybe not the first time, but say, ‘Okay, this is something I can see myself doing, and this is something I’m capable of doing’, I think is really important.”

Lily Osborne, 13, is going into eighth grade in the fall. After getting introduced to robotics, she attended Girls Who Code for a deep dive exploration into tech: “My school doesn’t have a lot of quality classes like this, not a lot of good opportunities, so I wanted to take this opportunity to, since it was a grant, to come and do this.”

Due to the multiple business sponsorships, all girls who attended the camp did so at no-cost.

Another camper, Ellora Fairbrother, 14, also got her start in computer science with robotics.

Now getting ready to enter high school, Fairbrother opted for Girls Who Code to strengthen her skills in coding.

“We only have like five or six girls, and that was pretty surprising to me because I thought we had like two or three. So I’m glad that there’s like a lot of girls out there who wants to computer science and code,” Fairbrother comments on the camp’s turnout.

“We’ve made motion sensor lights, we’ve made motion sensor sounds, and right now we’re making this thing that, it’s like a parking garage,” explains Osborne on the skills learned.

On Thursday, the group was tasked with creating a small-scale parking garage gate. This includes multicolored lights, motion sensors, motors, and complex codes to let the gate know when the garage is at capacity.

The girls are able to take their computer coding and through wiring bring their ideas from screen to life.

On Wednesday, the group got to meet the women of Bangor Savings Bank’s IT department.

While Girls Who Code creates a comfortable space to girls to learn and connect, the program also shows the tech opportunities right here in Maine.

“It’s really important to not only see and hear from women in tech, but also see the job environment,” says Oechslie. “So that’s why we added a field trip day component to the Girls Who Code camps so that they can physically go and see people who do the job that they’re interested in.”

Both Osborne and Fairbrother say they are definitely considering entering tech when it’s time to choose a career path.

Project Login is offering many other STEM camps for kids this summer.

For more information, visit their website.

Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.

Spectrum News Maine premieres In Focus Maine, a weekly public-affairs program, Sunday, June 30. The half-hour program airs at 10:30 a.m. and will feature discussions with newsmakers, including government officials and expert analysts, on issues affecting Mainers.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is in the premiere episode, with Josh Robin, Spectrum News’s chief national correspondent, conducting the interview. She describes the mass shooting in Lewiston, which happened in October 2023, as “the darkest day in Maine history in my life.” 

Collins also spoke on the rift between parties in D.C., and those who seek to work with those across the aisle. “I would like the people of this country to know that despite the extreme hyper-partisanship that we’re seeing in Washington, that there are people who work hard every day for a better America, and to come together on legislation to try to improve life for everyday Americans,” she said. “And we tend to work together, Democrats and Republicans.”

Spectrum News Maine, owned by cable operator Charter Communications and available to its Spectrum subscribers, debuted earlier this year. 

Local In Focus programs are on the air elsewhere in the Spectrum News group, including in New York City, upstate New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida (Orlando and Tampa), Texas, North Carolina and California.