PORTLAND — Ashley Seong looked puzzled. Her mother, Grace, was jumping up and down and shouting. Her father, Boyoung, was making silly faces and shaking a rattle toy.
Only 8 months old, Ashley couldn’t know that her parents were doing their best to make her smile, while a photographer worked to capture the moment. She didn’t understand that she was about to get a free photo, $500 set aside for her higher education, and just maybe, a chance to be in a television commercial.
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The Seongs joined dozens of young families Saturday at the University of Southern Maine for the latest “Future Faces of Maine” casting call. The events are held to find fresh, Maine baby faces to promote the Harold Alfond College Challenge.
The $500 Alfond Grant is available to all Maine babies when a NextGen College Investing Plan account is opened by their first birthday. At the casting calls, Maine babies under the age of one receive a free professional photograph and may have their picture appear in future promotional materials.
Finance Authority of Maine staff also attended the event to provide information and assist interested familes in completing the application for the $500 grant. FAME is the administrator of NextGen.
Casting call events over the past two years have attracted roughly 3,000 babies and helped open nearly 2,000 NextGen College Investing Plan accounts. More than 13,000 Maine babies have opened accounts and received the $500 Alfond Grant since the challenge launched as a pilot program, in 2008.
Currently, roughly 40 percent of the state’s resident babies are enrolled in the program, but organizers think wider promotion could increase that number. That’s why the program is planning its first television ads, which could run this fall.
The casting calls will help narrow the talent field, and find babies and families that will become candidates for the planned television campaign.
“Casting calls have proven to be enjoyable experiences for babies and their families, we rarely hear a single cry,” said Elizabeth Vanderweide, a manager at the Finance Authority of Maine, who oversees the Harold Alfond College Challenge. “Not only will families receive a free, professional photograph of their baby, but casting calls also provide an opportunity for families who wish to receive help to complete the NextGen account application, which is required in order to receive the $500 Harold Alfond College Challenge Grant.”
The Seongs learned of the event from mailings and other material they saw in Kennebunk, where they live. Like many young people today, the couple is carrying debt from education. Boyoung currently is studying for a master’s degree. They are aware they need to start saving for their daughter.
“I have a lot of student loans,” Grace Seong said.
The goal of getting a financial foothold also drew Jennifer and Tom Partridge of Old Orchard Beach to USM, with 6-month old Reagan.
“We don’t want her to have student loans, like her mom and dad,” Tom Partridge said, as they waited in line for their turn at the photo shoot.
When her turn came, Reagan watched her mom adjust her pink, clip-on hair bow, then stand back and coo, “Hi, pretty baby. Hi, gorgeous girl.”
Reagan responded with a big smile, followed by a bit of drool.
There are no income limits to the program, and no contributions are required to receive the $500 grant. Funds in the NextGen account may be used to pay for qualified higher-education expenses at any accredited post-secondary school, including two-year colleges, certificate programs, trade schools, and even graduate schools.
Organizers estimate that $500 invested in the program today can grow to $2,000 by college time, based on a projected performance of financial markets. But the program is about more than the starter money. National statistics suggest people are six times more likely to attend college, if they start a savings program.
“It’s about having the aspirations to go, and planning to go,” Vanderweide said.
A casting call held last month at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor attracted 109 babies.
Another session is set for the Auburn Mall on April 28, and the University of Maine in Augusta, on May 5.
Residents also can enroll online at http://www.500forbaby.org/
Staff writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or
tturkel@pressherald.com
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