PORTLAND

Junior Achievement contest

Junior Achievement of Maine is preparing for its seventh annual Titan Challenge on Feb. 13 as part of Maine Entrepreneurship Week. All Maine High Schools are invited to participate in this competition, free of charge.

Seventy-three teams from 21 Maine High Schools have registered so far.

The JA Titan Challenge is an online business competition that puts high school students in charge of a virtual company.

Each three-student team takes on the role of CEO, CFO and marketing R&D as they compete with other teams to sustain their businesses.

Each team is matched with a business mentor from the community to guide them through decision-making.

Top performing teams will take home scholarships donated by MES-Maine Education Services.

Locations of the challenge include the University of Southern Maine Portland and Lewiston-Auburn campuses, the Foster Center for Student Innovation at UMaine Orono, Maine Maritime Academy at Castine, the University of New England Biddeford Campus and UMaine Presque Isle Campus.

The deadline to register is Jan. 13.

For more details, call 347-4333, email manderson@jamaine.org or go to jamaine.org/programs/titan-challenge.

YORK HARBOR

Russian tea party Jan. 12

Reservations are being accepted for those who wish to attend a traditional Russian tea party, set for 10 a.m. Jan. 12 at St. George’s Episcopal Church.

Local artist and educator Marina Forbes will host the party, which features highlights of her annual cultural tours to Russia.

Forbes is a native of St. Petersburg and a traditional Russian artist and icon painter licensed by the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Forbes’ small group tours to Russia are tailored to the interests of participants, giving opportunity for attendees to experience a broad range of “real Russians,” including artists, scholars, politicians, journalists, educators, students and entrepreneurs.

The tea party will highlight Forbes’ 11-day trip to St. Petersburg, the ancient city of Novgorod and Moscow during the season of “White Nights” when St. Petersburg experiences 24 hours of continuous daylight.

For more details or to pre-register, call Forbes at (603) 332-2255 or email at marina@anylanguage.org.

Wastewater video to screen

A screening of “Wastewater 101,” an eight-minute video created by King Middle School seventh graders, will be shown at 8:30 a.m. Friday in the school’s library, at 92 Deering Ave.

The video follows the students’ study of water concepts and wastewater treatment as part of the Portland Water District’s environmental education outreach program, describing wastewater treatment and its importance to society.

For more details, call 774-5961 Ext. 3050, e-mail: mclements@pwd.org or go to www.pwd.org.

CAMDEN

Winter horticulture lectures

Camden Garden Club and the Camden Public Library are planning a five-week Winter Horticulture Series in the library’s Picker Room at 55 Main St.

It will run at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, Jan. 29, Feb. 5, 12, 19 and 26. The talks will cover a variety of subjects, from container gardening and pest control to landscape design.

The talks are open to the public.

For more details, call Sherry Cobb at 785-2086.

Israeli, Palestinian poetry

Join Ellen Goldsmith for the poetry reading, “Voices of Israeli and Palestinian Poets: Identity, Location and Dislocation,” from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Cushing Public Library.

The event, which is free and open to all, advances the 26th annual Camden Conference in February themed “The Middle East: What Next?”

Goldsmith is the author of “No Pine Tree in This Forest Is Perfect,” and the winner of the 1997 Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Award.

For more details, call 236-1034 or go to www.camdenconference.org.

ALFRED

Senior college offers lectures

York County Senior College is offering a varied slate of subjects for its monthly 2013 Gary Sullivan Memorial Winter Lecture Series, set to begin Jan. 16 and continuing with monthly installments through March.

Some of the topics include politics, the Middle East, theater, religion behind bars and history.

Morning lectures take place from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., followed by lunch and afternoon lectures from 12:30 to 2:30 pm.

The first session, “A Post-election Analysis and Discussion of the Future of Print News,” will be held Jan. 16.

Editorial writers M.D. Harmon, a conservative, and Greg Kesich, a liberal, will represent divergent views as “Monday morning quarterbacks” following November elections. Given increasing technology related to news distribution, they will analyze the future of print news.

That afternoon, Kate Braestrup, a community minister, law enforcement chaplain and the author of The New York Times bestselling memoir, “Here If You Need Me,” will speak about her chaplaincy with the Prison Warden Service.

All lectures will be given at Denis Hall on the campus of the Brothers of Christian Instruction, 133 Shaker Hill Road off Route 202.

The fee for each day’s program is $15, payable at the door by cash or check.

The fee includes morning coffee and muffin reception from 9 to 9:30 a.m. and a luncheon of soup, salad, sandwiches, dessert and beverage.

For more details or to make a reservation, call 282-4030 by the Monday before each lecture.

CAPE ELIZABETH

Genealogy society to meet

The Greater Portland Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society will meet at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the LDS Church, 29 Ocean House Road.

The event will begin with a social time, followed by a program from 1 to 2 p.m. and a business meeting at 3 p.m.

Charles Scrontus will give a talk on Maine labor unions.

For more details, go to www.gpcmgs.org.

SCARBOROUGH

Library closing for inventory

The Scarborough Public Library, at 48 Gorham Road, will be closed Wednesday through Friday to allow staffers to complete inventory. The library will reopen at 10 a.m. Saturday.

For more details, call 883-4723.

KENNEBUNK

Genealogy lecture planned

Genealogist Pam Stone Eagleson will give a talk titled “Grandma’s Treasure Chest” from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Kennebunk Free Library at 112 Main St.

The free lecture will offer tips on obtaining clues for genealogical research by examining obituary boxes, journals, personal papers, Bibles, jewelry, samplers and photos.

Eagleson is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, is a board certified genealogist and a member of the board of directors of the National Genealogical Society.

No reservation is needed.

For more details, call 985-2173.

NEW GLOUCESTER

Open house at History Barn

The monthly New Gloucester History Barn Open House will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the History Barn, located on Route 231, behind the New Gloucester Town Hall.

The feature this month is the recent acquisition of a five-foot circular saw blade that belonged to the Blake/Stinchfield family, one of New Gloucester’s founding families. Other items from the family will also be on display.

For more details, call Leonard Brooks at 926-3188.