Jeff Kozaka, Master Specialist Mahoney Middle School South Portland, ME kozakaje@spsd.org

January 2011Edition

In This Issue:Page One-Local news

-Playing Santa

Page Two-A ride to remember

Page Three-Not just horsin’ around

Playing SantaStudents from Cory Paquette’s JMG program at Carrabec High School in North Anson got the chance to play Santa on December 18 when they took a trip to Boston to deliver $500 worth of new toys to Shriners Hospital for the patients. Twelve students and two adults made the trip to Boston to deliver the gifts and also received a tour of the facility. The students started collecting the toys and raising money within their community to purchase more toys in early December, then made the final shopping trip on December 18 before heading to Boston.

Paquette says of the trip, “The students were amazed to see the level of care that the children at Shriners Hospital received. They were excited to be delivering the toys and felt really good about the experience. They have expressed that they want to do it again next year.”

As part of their holiday community service, Carrabec JMG students also collected money and holiday “wishes” from needy families in their community, went shopping to fill those wishes, and distributed the gifts. Carrabec JMG has been doing similar fundraisers for 10 years now.

At left and right, Carrabec students pose for some photos During their recent trip to Shriners Hospital in Boston to Spread some holiday cheer to the seriously ill patients.

Mahoney's Project Reach leads the way in Maine Recycles Week

For over a decade, Maine has been promoting recycling efforts throughout the state by sponsoring an annual poster contest open to students from K-12. This year, the state received over 1,700 entries and had the difficult task of selecting only 13 posters for the 2011 calendar.

Mahoney Project Reach students helped advocate for recycling by presenting slide shows they created on their MacBooks to all the science classes in the school. Students made presentations which contained the rules for the poster contest, this year's slogan, examples of past winning posters, recycling facts, and a short embedded video about recycling. Students then scheduled times when they could meet with their assigned science class and learned how to use a smart board for their presentation. The project was designed to enhance students' public speaking skills, integrate technology, and collaborate with students and teachers on a school-wide level.

Earlier this month, the new Maine Recycling calendar was released and Project Reach students were delighted to learn that three posters from Mahoney Middle School had been selected to be in the calendar! Thanks to Project Reach, Mahoney Middle School has a new awareness for recycling!

Photos of the Mahoney winning posters for Maine Recycles Week

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A ride to rememberBy Brooks Cannon, South Portland High School JMG senior

On Tuesday, December 28, I was at Sugarloaf enjoying my day snowboarding after the storm that graced skiers and snowboarders with 22” of snow. I was riding up the long side spillway chairlift around 10:00 am. As my chair passed tower 8, the chair made a clanging sound as it went across the wheels that hold up the steel cable that the chairs are attached to. I was riding with my brother, Lee, at the time, and we commented on the sound, saying that it didn't sound healthy for the lift to be making sounds like that. We never hear sounds like that while riding chairlifts.

We got to the top and made our way back down to the bottom of the lift, where I suggested we get on the short side lift instead of the long side, because the line was shorter and the snow wasn't that great at the top. So we got on the short side lift. This time I rode up with my dad on the double chair. About halfway up we noticed a Sugarloaf maintenance employee standing on top of tower 8. Shortly after we saw him, we heard a loud bang sound, followed by frightened screams from the people on the long side chairlift. The steel bar that holds the wheels that the steel cable moves across had broken in half. All the chairs between towers 7 and 9 fell from 30 feet and smashed into the ground. All I could hear were screams of agony and all I could think was, “Am I really witnessing this?”

Some of the people on chairs that had not hit the ground were taking off their skis or snowboards and jumping off the lift. This was a very bad idea, because each time someone jumped, the lift would bounce because of the sudden shift of weight. Not only that, but the people who jumped were also jumping from 15-30 feet up. I saw multiple people purposely hurl their bodies off the lift and land on their back, rear end, and even on their head. Now there was more yelling and screaming on top of the injured victims who had crashed into the ground.

My dad and I started yelling at one teenager to the left of us who was un-strapping his snowboard, preparing to jump. He didn't listen to all the people yelling at him. He hung from the bottom of the chair about 20 feet up and let go. The lift bounced dangerously. He landed flat on his back in the powdery snow below. He didn't move for a couple seconds. I was thinking the worst, but he rolled onto his stomach and onto his knees where he stayed until I couldn't see him anymore.

The lift I was on kept going, and soon enough I was strapping on my bindings. I had every intention of going down as quickly as I could to try and help. I got up and started to descend to where the lift had hit the ground when someone told me not to go down that way because the lift was down. I didn't stop; I kept going and yelled back at him “I'm going to help.” It took me less than a minute to get down to the destroyed chairs.

I went over to a man who was alone and moaning in pain. I took off my snowboard and said to the man, “Sir, I'm a lifeguard. Where are you hurting?” The man said, wheezing, “I'm having trouble breathing and I have a sharp pain in my chest.” I told him more help was on the way. I started yelling for ski patrol, but none had responded yet. I stayed with the man, trying to keep him calm. He didn't know what had happened. The man kept asking me what happened and if his kids were okay (they were on the chair behind him). I replied every time, “Your kids are okay.” I wasn't going to tell him his kids had landed hard in the snow and looked very distressed.

Eventually a ski patrol showed up and I yelled to him to come down to this man first. He came down I told him the situation and requested a backboard and a sled to get him down to first aid as quickly as possible. He radioed down to the base lodge for a trauma bag, backboard, and sled. The sled and backboard came about 20 minutes later. This whole time a few other people who had come over to see if they could help and I stayed with the man and tried to keep him warm and calm.

The sled, backboard and trauma bag got there, and while supporting the sled on the incline, we put the man on the backboard and then on the sled. Once he was safely strapped in, one of the members of the ski patrol took him down to be air lifted by a life support helicopter straight to Maine Medical Center. Next, I went up to the next chair where a woman was screaming in pain and complaining of a broken hip. There was already a ski patrol there with a backboard and a sled, so I jumped right in and helped carefully strap her to the backboard and put her on the sled. As she was being taken down the mountain in the sled, firemen and the whole ski patrol staff were getting the people off the lifts with ropes.

I regrouped with my father and my brother, and Lee said he had helped some other woman. She was so cold that he had given her his helmet gator to wear. He helped her onto a sled, and my dad did the same with another victim. We all hiked up to see if we could be of more assistance, but they were getting people down by rope and wouldn't let us help. So Lee and my dad put on their skis and I strapped on my snowboard and we went down into the lodge to find my sister to tell her our heroic stories.

Not just horsin’ around… Rebecca Powers - 2006 Freeport JMG Graduate

2006 Freeport High School JMG graduate Rebecca Powers left high school with anedge over her peers. That’s because she participated in Jay Harper’s JMG classduring her junior and senior years and gained skills that proved to be invaluable inthe work world.

“I remember doing mock job interviews in JMG and learning what the importantthings to mention were, and how to conduct myself in an interview,” says Powers.“Having those skills has definitely helped me learn how to market myself to apotential employer.”

Powers says she participated in many activities and community service projects while in Harper’s class, and they were all valuable experiences. “No one experience really stands out as more meaningful because Mr. Harper really tried to do activities that were equally meaningful and equally as important,” she says.

Harper, explains Powers, was well liked by his students and a good teacher and mentor. “I really enjoyed having Mr. Harper as a Specialist,” she says. “He was easy to talk to and was really supportive of each of the JMG members. I always looked forward to going to JMG classes.”

The daughter of a large animal veterinarian who also owns a Standardbred horse breeding farm, Powers was an equestrian from an early age. “I have been a horse person my entire life,” she says. “[My father’s jobs] gave me tons of experience with the racehorses.” She gained insight into other equestrian disciplines while taking riding lessons at Chez Chevaux Equestrian Center in Durham, which she says focuses on hunters and jumpers.

After high school, Powers attended the University of Maine at Orono, where she studied Equine Business Management. She finished up her studies in December 2010 and will receive her diploma with her classmates in May.

Powers currently owns a 7-year-old retired Standardbred racehorse named Best of Plans or “Bessie” for short, whom she met at UMaine. “UMaine has a great program that adopts retired Standardbred mares, which are used for research,” she says. “They offer a great class where you are assigned a "UMare" for the semester and are responsible for turning her into a pleasure horse that can then be re-sold to the public. Bessie was my UMare when I took the class, and I broke her to saddle and ended up buying her.”

While at UMaine, Powers also participated in the UMaine Standardbred Drill Team and competed with the UMaine Equestrian Team. “The Drill Team is a

performance group that uses the retrained UMares and does intricate drills with them,” Powers explains. “I always compare it to synchronized swimming on

horses, but without the water and swim suits.”

While the Drill Team is more for fun, the Equestrian Team is a competitive group. Powers and her UMaine teammates compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) against 11 other college and university teams, including Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont. The riders compete in a type of riding called hunt seat, which includes both equitation (evaluation of the rider’s posture and mastery of the horse) and jumping classes.

When asked, ‘Why harness racing?’ Powers answers, “There are a lot of aspects that I really enjoy - besides winning, of course. I really like breaking young horses to harness and cart, and then working with them until they're ready to race. The first time they race is just an unbelievable feeling… My other favorite thing about harness racing is that I never have the same day twice. It's always an adventure.”

Powers’ future plans include running her own Standardbred breeding and training facility. She already has a good start in that direction. Back in November, Powers became certified as a trainer by the U.S. Trotting Association (USTA), which will open even more career doors for her. To get her certification, Powers had to successfully complete both a written test and a hands-on-test. Dr. Nonni Daly, one of Powers’ instructors at UMaine and another person that she considers to be a mentor, was there the day she completed her practical test, and it meant a lot to Powers. “Dr. Daly has been one my biggest supporters throughout my college career,” says Powers. “Every crazy idea I've had, she's been right behind me supporting me. She is a walking example that determination and hard work will get you to where you want to be.”

Rebecca Powers “jogging” (exercising) Race Me Moosehead.

Powers with Race Me Lucky, Race Me Mahone, and Race Me Comet in Westbrook.