AUGUSTA – Rep. Christine Powers, D-Naples, recently welcomed students from Lake Region High School, Lake Region Vocational Center and Lake Region Middle School to the State House.

The middle school students performed the national anthem in the House gallery during the day’s opening ceremonies. Lake Region High School and Vocational Center students were honored with a legislative sentiment sponsored by Powers for their accomplishments in academics, music and sports during the 2013-2014 school year.

The high school’s WorldQuest Team won the state competition for the second straight year and will represent Maine at a national competition in Washington, D.C. The Jazz Combo received a superior rating at the District II Jazz Festival. The Girls Basketball Team won the Class B Girl Basketball State Championship for the first time in 39 years.

“At a time when the emphasis is too often on the negative regarding our public schools, these awards, medals and championships represent just a small sampling of the many positive achievements in academics, art, athletics, career skills, music and technology for the students of MSAD 61,” said Powers in a speech on the floor of the House.

Powers submitted the sentiment to celebrate the students, but also in the hope of counteracting the negativity surrounding an erroneous grade of “D” given to Lake Region High school under the LePage administration’s controversial school grading system. That assessment was later slightly upgraded after local officials pointed out that MSAD 61 was penalized a full letter grade because of SAT attendance percentages not being rounded up by the DOE as was done for other school districts with similar percentages.

Rep. Christine Powers, D-Naples, recently welcomed students from Lake Region High School, Lake Region Vocational Center and Lake Region Middle School to the State House.