AUGUSTA

Mt. Ararat student wins poetry title

Rose Horowitz, of Mt. Ararat High School, is the state champion of the 2015 Poetry Out Loud Competition sponsored by the Maine Arts Commission.

Students began the competition in their classrooms, followed by school-wide and regional competition.

The 10 state finalists were required to recite three rounds of poetry from memory March 11 at the Waterville Opera House.

Ella Werner, of Yarmouth High School, placed second in the contest. Horowitz and Werner will receive cash awards and their schools will receive prize money to purchase poetry books for their libraries.

This year’s competition included nearly 10,000 students, representing 45 public and private Maine high schools.

Horowitz will represent Maine at the National Poetry Out Loud Finals April 28 and 29 in Washington, D.C..

Other state finalists included Mohammad Hashmi, Bangor High School; Josef Biberstein, Freeport High School; Mariah Lang, Gardiner Area High School; Emma Curnin, Kents Hill School; Charlotte Eisenberg, North Yarmouth Academy; Emma Weissenfels, Oak Hill High School; Owen Sinclair, Rangeley Lakes Regional School; and Isabella Labbe, Waterville Senior High School.

ELLSWORTH/PORTLAND

Scholarships await applicants

The Maine Community Foundation is making available nearly 520 scholarships that support students pursuing music, journalism, teaching, horticulture, technology, the arts, and many other fields this spring. Those awards are available to students who attend secondary, post-secondary, and graduate schools, as well as nontraditional programs.

A complete listing of scholarships for the upcoming school year can be accessed at www.mainecf.org.

Adult learners also can benefit from 18 scholarship funds that help them navigate the road back to school.

MaineCF’s scholarship funds are established for a variety of reasons, from honoring a family member to carrying on the tradition of “giving back” that helped an individual through college.

To establish a scholarship fund at the community foundation, call Cherie Galyean, scholarship manager, at 1-877-700-6800.

STANDISH

Team collecting Legos for sick kids

The Bonny Eagle Robotics Team, aka BERT, is heading a Lego Toy Drive to benefit patients at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.

The team is collecting donations of new, unopened Lego or other brick construction kits for children of all ages, through March 31.

Collection boxes are located at the following schools and businesses in the Bonny Eagle area: Bonny Eagle High School, Bonny Eagle Middle School, George E. Jack Elementary, Edna Libby Elementary, Steep Falls Elementary, Hollis Elementary, Buxton Center Elementary, H.B. Emery Elementary, NAPA Auto Parts, Buxton, and Cradles and Crayons Daycare, Gorham.

The team will visit the hospital in April to deliver the toys and let the children drive its robot.

For more details, call Shana Qualey at 831-5189, email bertrobotics@gmail.com or go to www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc.

PORTLAND

Young musicians win scholarships

The Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ have awarded Kotzschmar Memorial Trust Scholarships to the following young musicians: Josie DiPhilippo, 17, of South Portland, who is studying piano under Naydene Bowder; Madelyn Flanigan, 13, of Yarmouth, who is studying piano under Chiharu Naruse; Morgan Flanigan, 14, of Yarmouth, who is studying piano under Naruse; Hannah Flanigan, 16, of Yarmouth, who is studying violin under Yasmin Craig Vitalius: and Leah Israel, 15, of Cape Elizabeth, who is studying voice under Judith James.

SANFORD

Bank’s gift to benefit autism wing

The SIS Bank has donated $100,000 toward the construction of the new autism wing at the Fraser Ford Child Development Center of Sanford, a program of Waban Projects Inc.

The center, which serves more than 150 children from birth to age 5, provides therapeutic preschool programs for children with autism, pervasive developmental delay, Down syndrome and other developmental or intellectual disabilities.

The 5,000-square-foot wing will house classrooms, therapy rooms and a large multipurpose space.

Funding from SIS Bank is the start of a $1.25 million capital campaign. Waban Projects Inc. hopes to have 80 percent of the funding committed within 12 months. Construction could start as early as 2016.

For more details, call Selena Brock at 324-7955 Ext. 622, email sbrock@waban.org or go to www.waban.org.

STATEWIDE

Essay contest deadline approaches

Time is running out for students who wish to submit entries for consideration in the annual Margaret Chase Smith Library essay contest, this year focusing on immigration policy.

The competition is open to Maine high school seniors.

Entries are due by April 1. Prizes range from $50 for five honorable mentions to $1,000 for first place.

Winners will be announced May 1.

For more details or to enter, call John Taylor at 474-7133.

FALMOUTH

Grants awarded for patients’ rides

Seven Maine-based nonprofit organizations have been selected to receive $61,000 in grants to support critical patient transportation needs across the state, the Maine Cancer Foundation announced.

Those recipients include the Beth C. Wright Center, Ellsworth; the Penquis Community Action program, Rockland; Lake Region Senior Service, Bridgton; Community Concepts, Lewiston; the Patrick Dempsey Center for Hope & Healing, Lewiston; the York County Community Action Program, York; and the Dean Snell Foundation, Brunswick.

Each organization received between $4,000 and $10,000 for its programs to provide cancer patients with transportation to needed appointments associated with their treatment.

For more details, go to www.mainecancer.org or call 773-2533.