Transcript
Alan Chausse:
So like you’re the first person I’ve talked to since Sunday.
So I’m doing a forestry internship with the Bashegan Company. What I do right now is a lot of forest inventory. So plots and things like that. So yeah it’s been really fun. Definitely. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better.
So my name is Alan, and I am a Forestry major at the University of Maine. I’m from Ewing, New Jersey, which is quite different from here. And this is my life in the Pines. Literally.
Coming to Maine has been quite an experience. I’ve had such a great time in Maine. My aunt knows a family friend who went to UMaine. He is a forester. He worked for the state of Maine as well, so he told me about UMaine and all the opportunities and all the great people really convinced me that this was the place for me.
I plan on becoming a forester of some type. I’ve always loved like spending time outside and hiking and things like that. So I knew that I didn’t really want to work in an office for the rest of my career. And being in Maine. Oh man I love Maine. I don’t really want to leave. I kind of want to stay.
Yeah I love the cooler weather so this is really great for me. Watching the seasons change is great. I love fall. Fall is my favorite season, especially when the leaves are still on the trees. You know there’s something to look forward to with every season.
Well living on campus has been—it’s been great because I had like built-in friends. You know, they’re my support system. I go home and like tell them about my day and whatever is bothering me and things like that. My favorite part about living on campus and specifically Hart Hall is that everything is really close.
I have a class at—at least one class every day so I gotta go to class. I try to go to class. It’s good to go to class. Go to class. Hopefully I usually will have time for some fun things so either play guitar or go rock climbing.
Another, like, big part of my UMaine experience is music. I really love playing guitar. First semester, I played a lot of guitar with my friends. I’m also like in a band outside of school. We play like folk and bluegrass music so that’s really, that’s a lot of fun.
I think being a student is a really rewarding experience. Sometimes it’s hard, you know, being away from my parents and my family and everybody but it’s really good to push boundaries and things like that. I’ve done things like fly in a helicopter. Like that’s not something that I I would be doing. Because I’m kind of afraid of heights.
But I feel like the Forestry program at the University of Maine has been so supportive and I’ve met a lot of great professors who really introduced me to what forestry actually is and I’ve learned a lot of knowledge that hopefully will help me in my career.
The people I’ve met—like that’s the most important part of this experience for me. I’ve interacted with people that come from places really far away from where I grew up, and they’ve had different experiences and those experiences are really valuable. So like yeah. Ooo! Almost slipped. So yeah it’s really the community is supportive and welcoming. They’re like my family. They’re my family away from home. You know?
I don’t know how to stop it.
I learned how much I love trees. I thought I loved trees a lot then I came to UMaine and I was like wow I really love trees.
Quincy Clifford:
For me, Pura Vida is, it means community and family and seeking a pure life in those relationships. And that’s kind of exactly what I’ve done at the University of Maine.
Hi everybody, my name is Quincy. I’m a current senior at the University of Maine studying Management, Sports Management, and a minor in Spanish. Right now I’m interning with the Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation and this is my Life in the Pines.
I got my internship through the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, and this is kind of my view of the office and the state building that I hang out with. It has been so phenomenal. My supervisor is so much fun. I’ve been sailing, hiking, but also, like, doing some actual meaningful work in marketing and things like that.
I always knew I wanted to study business forever, even though my parents kind of were questioning it a little bit. It was more of a question of where I was going to go, and for a long time I was dead set on going out of state. Like, I committed to a school out of state because I really just thought I needed to experience something different and that I wouldn’t get that being only an hour away from home. Honestly, I think Ellie also maybe felt that way. I was kind of worried I was just going to be like, not that it’s a terrible thing, but like, stuck with the same people I’d known for my whole life.
But, that really wasn’t the case. I think UMaine was a lot more vast than I, like, thought it was to begin with. I’m really glad that things didn’t go my way and that I ended up at UMaine. And the University of Maine has opened so many doors for me.
Growing up, I always wanted to study abroad and it never seemed feasible, but I did end up studying abroad. So, last semester in the spring, I did a quarter in Costa Rica, and it was incredible. But it definitely changed my perspective of myself and what I can handle. I think that’s one of the most important parts about travel is just to be with yourself and learn from the challenges and things like that.
Being part of the Business School is a lot of fun. My community has grown immensely from when I first started to now. I really love, like, I can walk into almost any room here and know somebody.
I ended up taking… Marley No way. I’m in a group project right now and my partners are from all around the world.
When I needed my credit for, like, a cultural diversity class, I took Spanish, like an elementary Spanish class, and I ended up loving it. And so I declared a Spanish minor.
I also joined the women’s basketball team within, like, a week of being here. So I had that sort of consistency also already, like, built into my schedule and was going to practices, was meeting people from all over. That first year, we had seven countries represented on our team. So I was meeting people from everywhere and hearing their stories.
And I have friends that are going to school right now in Colorado and Nebraska, and they’re beautiful… But having the ocean and the crazy State and National Parks and the mountains and things like that is so nice.
I love taking the privilege of telling people that I grew up here now is, like, I feel like it’s a flex. Like, I’m like, “Ah, well, you have to go back home right now, but I get to stay here.” Because that’s a lot of what I’ve learned at UMaine is that life is about what you make it and the changes that come along. And I’ve transitioned from one major to, you know, adding a different class or a different course. I know that in 50 years, I’m going to look back and remember that that mindset shift happened in my time at UMaine.
I met Ellie because I never stopped talking. I met Ellie in a finance class, like, two weeks before we started working with each other because I sat down next to this, like, girl and she seemed so nice, but we weren’t talking. We were strangers.
Like a week later, we walked into the same meeting together and realized we’d both been hired to be ambassadors by the Business School. We were like, “No way.”
Jasper Makowski:
My name is Jasper Makowski. I am a third-year microbiology major from Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and I’m shaving my head for childhood cancer research. And this is my third time shaving it for him.
“I look like my grampy.” I was, I was saying you’re gonna look like me in like a couple years, dude.
My mom was an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Piscataquis Regional Food Center, and it kind of started as being volun-told to help, and I fell in love with it, and have been doing it ever since. And when I came to UMaine, I really wanted to continue with community service. So I found this club, and I joined my first week, and I became the treasurer and helped plan this event my freshman year, and I just finished up my term as the New England District Governor of Circle K International, kind of continuing on with that community service impact all over New England.
So UMaine was definitely the best choice for me. Every day that I’ve been at UMaine, I’ve been reinforced by that decision.
I almost didn’t come to UMaine originally, actually, but then I took a tour of UMaine, and spent some time on both campuses, and the big thing that stood out to me was the people. When I sat just on the University Mall for a weekend before I made my decision, everybody at UMaine seemed to be loving life, enjoying themselves, spending time with friends, and that was the community that I wanted when I came to college.
I took a Research Learning Experience course that led me to present a poster at the national level and at the state level. I’ve been a student in the Maginnis Lab for the last three and a half years. I’ve won multiple grants from my research. I’ve presented multiple posters for my research. From the second semester my freshman year onward, I was learning how a research lab functions, how to do experiments, how to keep a lab notebook, how to write grants, and that’s been so cool to not only work on my academics and getting good grades and taking the important classes, but also getting hands-on experience in research. Learning super cool things that always seem like something way out of reach, and it’s not.
I’ve really been able to squeeze every drop of opportunity out of UMaine that I wanted, and it set me up really well for the future. When I graduate, I’m so excited. I’ll be going to Tufts School of Medicine for their Maine Track, and then I’ll come back to Portland and, long-term, hopefully end up practicing medicine in a beautiful place like this.
I’m gonna look at UMaine most fondly for the moments in between the classes, where you reflect, where you laugh, where you do some silly shenanigan. Those are the moments that count. Those are the moments that you look back and remember fondly, and… you know, that’s where true friendships and connections are forged, in those kind of liminal in-between moments.
UMaine’s the college of our hearts always, but Maine is the home of your heart always. I’ve had the incredible opportunity to travel to places all over the country and out of the country while in college, and each time I visit a new place, I just think, “Gosh, I miss Maine.” Maine is a place that the heart finds home. It’s just the outdoors, the people, the culture, the sense of community everywhere you go. Maine’s just an awesome place to be.
Yeah, so the mascot behind us is Sweetie Pie, and from ages like 10 to 13, I think they stuffed me into that costume. It’s a great time, it’s a sweltering time, but it’s fun to go around and interact with people as a life-sized, horrific whoopie pie.
McKenna Chappell:
It makes me happy to be here because I feel like being so far away from home, I didn’t know if anywhere else would feel so comfortable, but Maine is just a life spent outdoors with people I love. So many opportunities to do fun things and meet new people, so it’s just wholesome.
Hi everyone, my name is McKenna Chappell. I am studying Parks, Recreation, and Tourism with a minor in Studio Art. I’m from Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and this is my life in the pines.
Oh gosh!
I chose to go to Maine because I had grown up hearing my mom say, “I want to go to Maine,” but she had never chosen to go and so I wanted to find a new place to explore. UMaine was the only school I found with the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism degree, and that’s something I’m so passionate about is being outdoors, so I chose to go here, and that also gave the opportunity for her to come and visit me, especially in the fall with all of the fall foliage. It’s so beautiful.
So obviously I’d never been here before I came here and I didn’t know anyone, but these two behind me I actually met the first day I got here and have remained my best friends since, so the community here is so welcoming and kind.
Since joining UMaine, I’ve tried out several clubs. I think I’ve tried about like seven or eight and all of them have been so fun. At this time, I’m enjoying rock climbing the most.
A typical day for me, maybe I have a lecture in the morning, but then I’ll go to my art class where we get to be in the studio creating what we want to, and then spend like three hours out in the forest looking at trees.
I just started teaching swim lessons at the Rec Center and it’s a way to connect with kids throughout the week. It’s like my serotonin boost and it’s also really what I’m interested in doing in my future. I’m taking an environmental interpretation class where we’re learning about how to teach kids outdoors, and I think I can definitely see myself doing that in my future as well.
Growing up in Lake Tahoe, I was surrounded by a bunch of outdoor opportunities and I feel like the happiest I am is in the outdoors, so I wanted to do what I can to teach people about nature but also protect it for the future.
All my professors have, I feel like, gone the extra mile to help all of us do what we can and find a career that we love. Going to UMaine, I feel that I found opportunities that I don’t think I could find elsewhere.
I’m working on a cardboard relief project right now for my 3D Design class and I’m doing a mosaic on a heart based off the quote, “We are all a mosaic of everything we’ve ever loved.” And I’m doing it through topographic lines just to incorporate that outdoor part of it. With the art studios, if you’re enrolled in an art class, you can come in at any time of the day. They give you a code, which is so cool because it’s just such a peaceful place to be.
So my dream career would be to work in Yosemite National Park or honestly, any national park where I can create art and teach people how to make that art and then eventually sell it. And so I’m incorporating both my adventurous and creative side.
I mean, being in Orono, it’s so nice because you’re only an hour from Baxter State Park where you can do this amazing hiking, but also only an hour from the ocean, so you get the best of both worlds. I feel like there’s so many layers to Maine that you wouldn’t know of unless you come and travel here.
I feel like leaving UMaine is going to be so bittersweet because I feel very prepared from being here. I feel ready to go, but I’m also not ready to leave it behind because it’s just such a magical place.
I’m gonna miss doing cool things like this. Like what? Who else is doing this?
At the end of every semester, I’ve been making these semester recap videos. I can show you.
Nico Durkee:
So I’m in the percussion section and I play bass drum at the moment. I just really love the aspect of percussion. How flexible all the music can be. I just really like hitting stuff, you know?
My name is Nico Durkee. I’m a Studio Art major with a minor in Zoology, and I’m from Biddeford, Maine. And this is my life in the pines.
I feel like I’m more comfortable with playing with molten metal, pretty much. We’re in the Sculpture Studio that’s a part of the UMaine Art Program, which I thought that coming into art school, I would literally just be drawing or painting or something like that. But this is a whole new level that I didn’t even know that was here when I first got here. And it’s really cool to be able to have a really cool space to create and express my creativity.
I am a really big fan of sculpture. Like once I got into the art program and I got in deep, I was like, this is probably one of the main things I really want to do. I never knew that this was going to be a big part of my life here at UMaine. It’s a really cool place to be in. So many different things that you can do here. There’s printmaking, there’s painting, there’s drawing, there’s sculpture, there’s ceramics that I didn’t even know about until I was here. So, yeah, there’s a lot of, there’s so many things to do when you’re an art major here at UMaine.
I’ve lived in Maine pretty much all my life. It’s such a lovely community. I love every aspect about UMaine, especially Maine as a state. I wanted to stay here no matter what.
The UMaine Marching Band would come to like one of our competitions each year. And that kind of like really gave me that spark to want to be a part of this program and be a part of like the big guys, I guess. Like we almost have a hundred people in our band at the moment, so it’s like a pretty cool opportunity. I came from such a small program with like under 30 people. It’s such a cool thing to have people from your hometown like cheer you on.
Sometimes you’re just like so in the moment that it’s like, it’s crazy. Like they’ll step on onto that field. I won’t remember a second of what I do. I just look out into the crowd and I’m like, “Wow, I’m really doing this right now.”
So it’s not like it’s not like this is a small school whatsoever, but like it feels like these groups are so tight knit, like within like marching band and like the equestrian team and even like the art program. I feel like I have my own like little like groups.
I have always been interested in like horses and stuff like that since I was little, but, obviously it’s a very expensive sport to get into. So I never really got the chance to do it when I was little. So it was really cool to be able to put this effort into be able to do this like in college and like be able to like even compete, which is like really cool with like everyone else.
So the Student Involvement Fair is when I really found out about it. I was just like aimlessly walking around and then I saw the table and I realized, “Oh, there’s actually like people who here who like ride horses and do all that kind of stuff.” And then I kind of just let it simmer in my brain for a little bit. So I was like, “Do I really have the time with marching band?” And I was like, “I can make the time.” So I, I made the time to do it. And like, I, I get to know so many like cool people and so many people from different backgrounds.
I feel like UMaine has really let me, like, come out of my shell more. Being here is almost like a leaf being blown in the air. Like you’ll never know where you, where you’ll fall, but you’re not worried about the journey that it takes to get you here, I guess.
Hi, Calvin. You almost threw me off last time. Let’s go!
Lauren Smack:
Oh my gosh, last year I think I used the Kiwibots maybe a hundred times. There were times I had to step outside because they were stuck in snow. But the cute little fellas, I don’t care. Sometimes I randomly wave at them. That’s probably weird, but I do.
My name is Lauren Smack. I’m from Bridgeville, Delaware. I currently study Sociology and I have a Dance minor. And this is my life in the pines.
Being a first-generation college student, I’m not gonna lie, sometimes it’s pretty daunting, especially the college application part. And if you’ve seen college tuition, UMaine is really affordable. But now that I am here, I feel so proud and I know the rest of my family is proud.
I missed Maine Hello, and I missed the freshman move-in. So my start to UMaine was kind of weird. For the first three weeks, I don’t think I talked to or saw anybody. Which may sound scary, but in retrospect, it actually gave me a lot of time to realize what I wanted to do here and the type of person I wanted to be. And then I started getting into more activities and then I met more amazing people. I still call my friends to this day and found people just as weird as me, like in all performing art departments, but also in my Sociology major. I found people who were just as interested in yapping and talking about the world around us.
Oh my gosh, is that Bailey? Hi!
Hey, with Lauren Smack! This is crazy.
Waking up every day here at UMaine is honestly the greatest feeling ever. I can’t lie.
The real reason I picked Sociology was, I just love learning about people, learning about different cultures, the way people interact with one another, how our society functions at its core.
And then dance as a part of it. I started dancing when I was about two-ish years old at local rec centers and then I danced all the way until I was about 12 or 13, and then the pandemic hit and then I couldn’t dance again. So then when I got to UMaine, I realized I love dancing all over again. It’s like riding a bike. Except, imagine that bike is a pirouette and then a cartwheel.
When I came into college, I actually had 37 credits to my name. So I was like, crap, no Gen Eds, no electives. And then it turns out the school was like, “Actually, you need to take a science class.” And I was like, “Science?” And then I took Astronomy and then I fell in love with Astronomy.
I had to go to the observatory at eight at night, but I didn’t care because I liked seeing the stars. I liked doing all of the math equations. I loved taking class and learning about the stars, even how to calculate how far the sun was or the orbit. And I’m so glad that UMaine made me take a science class because I was like, “Oh, I do love science.”
And we are in the Cyrus Pavilion. It’s the, like… It’s the octagonal? Octang? It’s an octagon shape of a building. Most people have probably seen it.
I say I do theatre because I don’t do a specific thing in theatre. I have been run crew in a show. I have been a choreographer in a show. I’ve done sound designing for a show. I work at the costume shop for the theatre department. So I do that too.
I’m an RA for one of the freshman dorms.
The University Singers is an audition group on campus. And I was like, “Oh, there’s a choir on campus, let me go see, audition for it.” Then I got in and I was like, “Whoa, that’s crazy.”
We have our fall and winter concerts as per usual, but we also have tour, which in the spring, we go around the area depending on what our execs choose. And we sing in churches, in cathedrals, sometimes schools, middle and high school. We did an elementary school once and they just looked at us really weird because some of our songs were either German or Latin and they were like, “This sounds good, but I don’t know what it means.” And I was like, “Yeah.”
I think the University of Maine has a lot of gusto and charm. Like some people happen to just like smile at you when you walk by. You don’t even have to know the person. The amount of times I’ve made like awkward eye contact, but we both just smile and leave. That’s like so great.
I know I can’t get that anywhere else. I could try, but I don’t think anything could top the University of Maine.
Wait, hold on. Okay, what’s your best sound?
I don’t know. Birds make me really mad. It’s the most reoccurring theme.
And she does it at the most unprompted times.
Isabelle Puccio:
Mass and Maine, I would say they’re sisters but not twins. Maine is like the nicer sister and Massachusetts, she’s a little bit more sassy. Maine feels like a hug, honestly. It feels like a warm hug. Everyone loves each other. There’s that big sense of community. We’re all just one big state of Maine.
Hello, my name is Isabelle Puccio, I’m a senior, crazy, Biomedical Engineering major in the Honors College. And this is my life in the pines.
We are walking by Cloke Plaza, heading towards Ferland. There she is, my house. If you look up there, I’m a Biomedical Engineer, so I live on the third floor. We do a lot of research here. A lot of our core classes are here.
You peek right over here. We’re in the CompuMaine lab, which is where I work. It’s really nice to work in a state-of-the-art building. I’m able to come in here later to study. So I don’t just have to like do my classes here. I still come and do like homework. I’ll take a whiteboard for like a health exam and go absolutely crazy. It’s one of the best parts of my week, I will not lie.
So I research in the CompuMaine lab. And if you were to ask me in high school, like what research you want to do, this would not have been it. During our freshman year courses, all of the lab instructors come in and introduce themselves. And Dr. Khalil introduced himself and his research. And I was really interested, but I didn’t think I was capable. And I didn’t really step up until my second year, where I felt that I had the skills to really get involved. And then I had an opportunity to pursue a summer fellowship. And I got really interested in the research I do here.
I specifically look at H&E digital pathology slides. So that’s kind of like when you go in to get a biopsy, what the pathologists will get from you. I get to see those slides and work with them every day, which is really cool.
So I’m an out-of-state student. I’m actually from Massachusetts. I was really nervous about finding my group, finding my like UMaine family, but that happened really quick, really easily. I have a lot of friends in the band. I have a lot of friends in my major. The band is big, but my section’s always been smaller. So we’re like a tight-knit community and it’s the best thing ever.
I’ve been doing marching band, I want to say 10 years now, which is a really long time. That’s like more than half my life, which is crazy. I knew I wanted to do it in college. So when I saw like what a huge program we have here, I was like, might as well. I’ve been a section leader for the past three years. And it’s been like the greatest privilege in the history of ever. I have the best section.
I feel like my favorite part of music and band is that everyone is important. Like if you’re even on like the second part or the third part, the song does not sound the same without you. And that’s kind of another way that I feel about life. Like every person is equally important. Like, yeah, you might be third-kazoo, but that song will never be the same without the third-kazoo.
So I didn’t really get to do symphonic band until my second year. I was really nervous when I first auditioned, because I’m a self-taught French horn player until I got to school here when I started taking lessons. So I auditioned for the symphonic band, not thinking I was gonna get in. And then I got put on the third horn. Been playing in the group for three years now.
I just love to perform honestly, and I love the athletic aspect of it. My good friend Sarah is a big part of dance here and we both study biomed together. And she’s like, “I love dance. I know you danced like 30,000 years ago. You should come try it.” So on a whim, I went to Dance Club last semester and I’ve been in love with it ever since. I’m actually taking some dance classes right now. And it’s been great to get back into that motion.
I don’t think I would have gotten this experience anywhere else. Like other schools I was looking at maybe had more labs with more opportunities, but I feel like as an undergrad, I wouldn’t have gotten as much of an enriching experience because there have been too many people.
I would say Maine is kind of like a great melting pot of personalities and people. You’ll find that everyone is really welcoming and really joyful. There’s a lot of just like community joy and like camaraderie, like everyone in Maine roots for the University of Maine, which is really awesome.
Never forget that perhaps in your own life, you’re your own third horn and you just make everything just a little bit better.
You all deserve to see the lovely poetry of our director, Mr. White.
The warm Maine sun is starting to rise, melting the frost before your eyes. Soon the seniors will march to graduate. Come get a muffin before eight.
That’s his poetry. That’s just one of them. We get like three to four every game day.
Samantha Ney:
Yes! I was saying I was hoping an animal would come and it did. Yes! Oh my god that that was awesome.
My name is Samantha Ney, I am from Saco, Maine. I am studying Elementary Education with a concentration in Science, and this is my life in the pines.
I am out here with my roommates and my friends that I’ve met up here at UMaine, and it’s just so fun to be able to live and hang out with them every day.
We are out by the cornfields, out on the walking trails or the bike trails behind the Rec Center. I come out here usually every day after school. I just need some time to decompress and be outside after I get home.
I was between UMaine and the University of Montana when I was deciding where I wanted to go to school, and I was like, “Whoa, what am I doing? I’m a homebody and I know I’m a homebody.” So thinking about going far away, I was like, it was a fun idea in my head. I didn’t want to be away from here. I love everything about it. I love my family. I love my friends, and I wanted to be involved in this community that I grew up in and that I love.
When I first came to the University of Maine, I was a Wildlife Ecology major, and while I loved it and while it’s something I’m still super interested in, I just knew down the road it wasn’t for me, and I wasn’t really sure where to go from there, but I decided on Elementary Education.
I had worked with kids a lot, and it was something I figured I would give a shot. I had just finished my freshman year, and I was completely changing to something new after I had finally felt like I got my feet on the ground. Everyone was super helpful. I was told, you know, this is how things are going to look, and so it made for a really smooth transition, and things have gone great from there.
We are here in the kindergarten classroom where I’m doing my student teaching. I have done my whole 15-week placement here in this classroom, and student teaching is an experience like no other. It is tough, but it’s so rewarding, and I feel like this is really giving me the experience that I need to be successful in my own classroom.
I am excited to graduate. I am sad, of course, to close this chapter of my life. UMaine is so fun. There are so many things to do. Going to the Alfond, watching hockey games, being in there in that atmosphere with everyone is something that everyone should experience. It is so fun. It is so cool. It’s one of the things I love most about UMaine is enjoying hockey games in the Alfond.
I am a part of CHAARG, an all-women’s workout group here on campus. I joined CHAARG my sophomore year when I came to UMaine, and Kennedy here was one of the first people that I met when I joined CHAARG. It is so much fun. It is an amazing group of girls who are just out having fun, out bettering themselves.
UMaine is just fun. There’s so much going on no matter where you go. On campus, off campus. Everyone is just happy to be up here. It’s filled with joy.
We are out here living the island life at the University of Maine. One happy island. One happy island.
It’s like its own little bubble, and it’s kind of like everybody is intertwined at some point throughout their years here.
Kennedy, he’s going to ditch my interview and pick up you.
Jeffrey Nowack:
On this field, it’s just, it’s just such a great place. You’re in front of a large crowd and it’s just such a good experience to play here and sort of be in the heart of it all. But it’s, uh, it’s time I gotta go join the band, so, see ya.
My name is Jeffrey Nowak, I’m a Music Education major, I’m from Auburn, California, and this is my life in the Pines.
I knew I wanted to go to a college that had a marching band and I had seen videos of UMaine’s Marching Band online and it just sort of drew my attention and I really wanted to come here. I started on alto saxophone in middle school. And then I transitioned to trumpet soon after and I’ve played that ever since. The joy of making music with other people, it’s just, you can’t beat that.
I’m in Symphonic Band, I’m in Marching Band, I’m gonna do Concert Band next semester, I’ve done Collegiate Chorale. I think my favorite thing about being in these ensembles is the relationships I’ve made. I talk to everybody every day, I wake up excited to hang out with them more.
I think UMaine has afforded me more musical opportunities than I think other campuses would. I didn’t expect I would be a Drum Major one day, but last year, three old spots opened up and I sort of decided I’d throw my hat in the ring and I ended up getting selected. So I get to work with and be around so many incredible people and really I just can’t describe it, it’s just amazing.
Coming in here as a non-traditional student, it was tough sometimes because I didn’t have a lot of time to take the classes I needed to at the right time I needed to, but the professors here are amazing because they will literally move mountains to get the help you need if you talk to them. No matter what it is, their door is always open.
I got led into Music Education because music is what I’ve done my entire life and I just really wanted to continue that and give back to what band and music gave to me growing up and lead the next generation of students into doing what I love to do too. It’s been great, I don’t have regrets at all.
You know, when I lived in California, I grew up there, I lived there for like 20 years and I saw snow maybe twice. I actually feel the seasons in Maine, that’s apart from California, where it’s just summer the whole time.
I love walking through the Mall and just seeing all the trees covered with snow and the friends you make are just friends that you have for life, you know. The bonds are just unbreakable. People just want to talk to you and in California it’s not really like that, it’s just such a tight-knit community that we have.
You know, I’m walking down the Mall right now and it just feels like home at UMaine. When I wake up and think about going to UMaine, I have like a big sigh, I go, “Ahhh.” And I think if you can find your “huh” then I think you’re at home and I think that’s a really special thing about UMaine.
Joey Ferguson:
The experiences that you get here are really one of a kind, I would say, especially in regards to coastal ecology. Because we are in such a unique location, and being just, a unique place as well for a college.
Sometimes I go back to my family in Maryland and I talk about these things. I say, I’m doing samples of phytoplankton. And me talking about that feels like that’s not real. People don’t do that. Nobody gets to do those sorts of things. But I get to say, hey, what I’m able to do here on this campus, that is real.
And this is my life in the Pines.
My name is Joey Ferguson. My friends behind me are Erro and Danny. I am a senior in the Wildlife Bio and Marine Bio fields from Silver Spring, Maryland.
I actually almost went to a completely different school. I was pretty much just gonna be paying room and board there. And then Machias and UMaine was the last school on my tour list. So I came up here last and after leaving here, I was like, why would I go anywhere else? It just seems like this is the perfect fit for me. And it’s such a unique little place.
We’re at Blueberry Hill Farm with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. We are the only university based wild blueberry research facility in the nation.
We actually came here for a couple of my labs I took. We got to help them set up some transects and do some research. And I really thought it was super interesting. They hire summer undergraduate work. And I’ve really been enjoying it out here. It’s definitely a little bit different than Wildlife Biology and Marine Biology, but I think it’s a great experience getting a very well-rounded education. And that’s what Machias really prepares you for.
I’ve done work with mammals, birds. I’m a volunteer marine mammal stranding responder for this area. So if a seal gets stranded or a baby seal shows up, we’ll pick it up and take it into the lab somewhere, stuff like that.
We’re not just taking data for the sake of getting some experience. I’ve taken plant ecology courses where we’re doing a natural resource inventory. And that helps inform these land management groups to say, it has a real purpose behind it, which is what I love doing.
We have such a small class size. Everything is so hands-on. And that really appeals to me for the biological sciences. I find that it’s so much easier to learn when you’re in a 15, 20-person class. Your professor knows you by name. They can check up on you. But you can also ask questions and learn personally in a way that you really couldn’t if there was a 200-person lecture.
One of the great things about a place like this is that so many people here have the same passions as you. They have one dorm building that we use. So it’s not going to be the real classic, like massive… you’re just kind of a face in the crowd. Here, it’s really like, I would say I know mostly everybody’s names. So it’s much more personal. They’re here because they want to be in this place on the coast. And that really binds you together and makes for some very valuable friendships.
Joey go catch it!
That’s federally illegal.
And I’m… it’s kind of sentimental for me. I’m a senior. Roaming through all these woods, is really kind of takes you away. Makes you feel like you’re in a different place, like a fairy tale almost. In the wintertime, especially, walking through is so magical.
I just love, like, hearing the waves. You can find so much—there’s so much to do and to look for in the rocks in the intertidal area here. That’s one of the reasons why I came here is because I can do a quick, like, 10-minute drive and be on a couple of different beaches. Even just looking out, sometimes I find it hard to believe that I’m like, oh, I’m here in Maine, where it’s just so beautiful. It’s so quiet out here, too. You really get to be away from anything else.
When the ducks stand up and flap their little wings. I like how he did that just for you when you said that. Yeah. On command. 3, 2, 1. Now. A bunch of them d—he did it! Oh my god! On command, dude. I have them trained. I have them trained.