POWNAL

TEENS TO TRAILS Maine Adventure Race is the first ever for high school students. On Saturday, 150 competitors will meet at Bradbury Mountain State Park and use maps and compasses to navigate the woods in search of checkpoints. The team with the highest point total wins. The challenge features prizes from Patagonia, The North Face, Merrell, L.L. Bean and others, with a lunch provided from Hannaford. For more information or to register, visit T3Race.wordpress.com.

Additional Photos

Graduating Girl Scouts Sarina Selleck, left, of Portland and Emily Settlemire of Warren received the Jo Stevens Award. To qualify for this award, Selleck and Settlemire had to write an essay explaining how their experience in Girl Scouts have influenced their career plans and goals. Courtesy photo

Three student poets earned top honors at the Third annual Merriconeag Poetry Festival at the Merriconeag Waldorf School. From left are festival organizer David Sloan, with third place winner Andrew Jones of Scarborough High, first place winner Christian Letourneau of Thornton Academy, second place winner Zak Konstantine of Merriconeag and festival judge Gibson Fay-LeBlanc. Courtesy photo

PORTLAND

LET’S GO, a community based program promoting healthy lifestyle choices, announced a mini-grant of up to $10,000 to an organization that has an interest in childhood obesity prevention, promotes physical activity and healthy eating and has a direct focus on policy and environmental changes. Proposals to receive the grant must be filed by 5 p.m. June 1 by groups from Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland, Falmouth, Freeport, Gorham, North Yarmouth, Portland, Scarborough, South Portland, Westbrook, Windham and Yarmouth. For more information, visit www.letsgo.org or contact Emily Rines at 874-1000 ext. 323.

THE NARROW GAUGE Railroad is gearing up for the Polar Express that will start Nov. 26. Volunteers are needed to be storytellers, friendly hobos to greet passengers, elves and Santas. There will be an open house June 17. For more information about volunteering or the informational session, call 828-0814 or e-mail susandavis@mngrr.org.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION of Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, celebrating its 81st road race, presented race winners Kristin Barry and Patrick Tarpy each with a $1,000 check on behalf of a donation by the United Insurance-Haley Agency.

MAINE MEDICAL CENTER’S new arts and humanities program is hosting an exhibit that features the work of Maine artist Janice L. Moore. Moore, who remembers being a patient at the hospital as a little girl, said she had wanted to see art on the “dull green walls.” The exhibit will be on display through July at the Dana Center, 22 Bramhall St. All pieces on display are also for sale and a portion of the proceeds will benefit The Arts at Maine Medical Center.

PORTLAND WATER DISTRICT provides thousands of water bottles and several water booths to community events each year. A new option is a portable drinking water fountain. The fountain allows the district to respond to more community requests for portable drinking water solutions that minimize waste and environmental impacts. For more information visit www.pwd.org or contact Portland Water District at 761-8310.

YARMOUTH

JOHN LANE, a fifth-grade student at Harrison Middle School, has been selected as the state winner of the 2010 Arbor Day National Poster Contest. Lane, 11, createed a poster reflecting the theme “Trees are Terrific and Energy Wise!” As winner, he will receive an award from Gov. John Baldacci and a $100 savings bond. Second place was awarded to Michael Hagerty and third place to Isabelle See, both from Yarmouth.

FREEPORT

THE FREEPORT ROTARY Close to the Coast 5- and10-kilometer road race and 1-kilometer kids fun run are scheduled for June 12. Registration is $15 and can be done in advance or the day of the race. To register online, visit www.active.com, or call 865-1183 or 791-3000.

GORHAM

THE DANCE STUDIO of Maine recently performed at the Portland Center for Assisted Living. Owner Trish Moulton said she encourages her dancers to volunteer each year, and this year, dance student Sally Aube sang the National Anthem to kick off the performance. Dancers ranging from 8 to 15 years old performed a tap piece choreographed by Maria McInnis.

WELLS

BRETT DAVISSON has become a state finalist in a national essay contest sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace for his 1,500-word essay “The Effectiveness of Non-Violent Civic Action.” The writing work earned the Wells High freshman a $1,000 scholarship and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C., this summer. In the past year, Davisson has entered and won three writing contests, including for his works titled, “The Effectiveness of Nonviolence: Indian Independence and Argentina,” “The Abenaki and the European Settlement of Maine” “Tagging of Pacific Predators: Following in Darwin’s Footsteps.” While in the nation’s capital, Davisson and the other state finalists will meet with public officials, tour famous sites and attend an awards banquet, where the top three essay contest winners will be announced and awarded a $10,000, $5,000 scholarship and $2,500 scholarships, respectively.

HOLLIS

MARILYN FLAHERTY-BURKOWSKI, a Hollis native, has been honored by the Council of Eastern Forest Technology School of West Virginia after receiving a score of more than 3.30 grade average on her forestry technology courses. She is a Glenville State College natural resource management forest technology major.

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