A University of Southern Maine student from Harpswell helped write a winning grant proposal as part of his “Thoughtful Giving: Philanthropy in American Culture” class.

Silas Miller, of Harpswell wrote a grant proposal for Rippleffect, a Portlandbased nonprofit community development organization that promotes leadership and environmental awareness in youth.

The group received $5,000 for an afterschool program that will be run from Lincoln Middle School next fall.

Focusing on the mental, emotional and physical wellbeing of children and youths, USM students helped write grants that awarded $17,000 to four nonprofits: Opportunity Alliance, Rippleffect, The Root Cellar and the Friends of Evergreen during a reception held on the Portland campus.

The funds were provided to the class through a fouryear grant of $40,000 from the Learning By Giving Foundation, funded by the Buffett family, which promotes the teaching of effective charitable giving. Additional matching funds of $9,000 over the past two years were provided by donors affiliated with the Maine Community Foundation.

The class, taught by Dorothy Schwartz, former executive director of Maine Humanities Council and a member of the USM College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Advisory Board, and Adam Tuchinsky, USM professor of history. The class is the only one of its kind offered at a public university in Maine and is one of 37 programs in the United States, according to a news release from the college.

It is the second time that the course has been offered at the university. Last year, course students donated $12,000 to four Portland area organizations. The course will again be offered next fall semester at USM.

ANDOVER, Mass. — Conner J. Cameron of Freeport, a member of the class of 2015, has been named to the honor roll at Phillips Academy for the fall term.

Phillips Academy, also known as Andover, is a coeducational, non-profit, independent high school of 1,100 students, known for its extensive and rigorous academic program.

BRUNSWICK — Emily Weddle, a Wellesley College student hailing from Brunswick, has been chosen as a 2013-14 Jerome A. Schiff Fellow.

For this recognition, she will receive $2,000 in funding for her senior thesis research.

Schiff Fellowships are granted on the basis of merit to students pursuing advanced study through Wellesley’s senior honors program.

Weddle is among only 17 seniors chosen for the award this year. She is studying the “Effects of Female Patronage on the Ballets Russes.”

Describing her work, she said, “My research reveals the importance of women’s contributions to not only this specific moment, but throughout history, which have often been overlooked by scholars. My hope in writing my thesis is to give credit to these women for their incredible achievements for twentieth century music, art, and dance, and in the process inspire others to question scholarship and the recording of history itself.”

Schiff Fellows will present their projects and findings to the public at Wellesley’s Ruhlman Conference in April 2014.

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