UMaine at Augusta Saco Center
opens new location

The Saco Center of the University of Maine at Augusta is open for business and will begin the spring semester in its new location, Suite 104 at 209 Main St., Saco.

Over the past 40 years, the UMA Saco Center has served an average of 350 students each semester, according to a university press release. Approximately 1,500 York County community members have attended the school and work in fields such as mental health services, business administration, computer information systems, the justice field and more.

Though the Saco Center’s new home has less physical space, it will continue to offer all the same services and support for students and partners. “UMA has been part of the greater Biddeford/Saco community for over 40 years, and we are excited to now be part of Saco’s vibrant downtown,” said Saco Center Director Dan Philbrick.

The new facility addresses the needs of how students now access higher education and includes a computer lab, three onsite classrooms, office space and a break area. One of the three classrooms can also serve as a public meeting room.

Equipped with an infrastructure that includes all-new Cat 6 ethernet cabling and a dark fiber network, the UMA Saco Center provides cutting-edge connectivity, with faster, more reliable internet speeds that support advanced learning tools, high-tech classrooms, and scalable bandwidth for future growth. In addition, through its video conference capabilities, the center continues to provide the flexibility and ability for members of the community to work at a distance, according to the statement.

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For more information about UMA’s Saco Center and its offerings, call (207) 282-4111 or visit uma.edu/saco.

This hug at last year’s “Love Ourselves” cold water dip exemplifies the love and community Finding Our Voices is bringing to Maine women with its February events. Hugging at 2024’s Wander Women’s dip in Union are Carla Armbuster and Carol Miller. In back, left to right , are Cathy Kelly, Kerry Hadley, Emily Peckham, and Laura Cabot. Contributed / Erja Lipponen

Sisterhood-building events
to warm up February

Finding Our Voices invites Maine women to uplift and empower each other with an online book club discussion of “The Bonobo Sisterhood” with the author Diane L. Rosenfeld, and a statewide cold water-dip. Finding Our Voices is the grassroots nonprofit providing peer support and resources to Maine women survivors of domestic abuse.

The online discussion around the Harvard professor’s manifesto on dissolving patriarchy is Tuesday, Feb. 11, 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event is part of the Finding Our Voices Book Club, which gathers with the authors six times a year to examine books through the lens of domestic abuse. The discussion of “The Bonobo Sisterhood: Revolution Through Female Alliance” is free and open to the public and can be joined through the link: bookclubs.com/finding-our-voices/join/

The statewide “Love Ourselves” Cold Water Dip fundraiser is Sunday, Feb. 9 with hardy souls from Brooklin to York immersing themselves in cold water at chosen times throughout the day. The second annual Sunday before Valentine’s Day event promotes the well-being that comes from dipping and gathering with other women, while raising money for Maine’s women domestic abuse survivors.

Dipping participants are encouraged to pick their time and place on Feb. 9, or join the schedule of an existing group.

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Participating dipping groups include Saltwater Mountain Co. in York, Cold Water Queers in South Portland, Wicked Nippy Dippahs in Rockport, Sea Sisters in Lincolnville, Wander Women in Union, Salty Sisters on Vinalhaven, Cold Water Warm Tits in Bar Harbor, and Snow Moon Selkies in Brooklin.

Dippers are encouraged to wear yellow. According to the CEO and founder of Finding Our Voices Patrisha McLean, “yellow is our color because we are survivors who have managed to cross over to the bright side of safety and freedom, shining a light for our sisters still in the dark.”

In 2024, more than 500 dippers as well as their towel-holders and sponsors raised $10,000 for Finding Our Voices. For more information on this year’s dip visit findingourvoices.net/cold-water-dip-2025 or reach out to McLean directly by emailing hello@findingourvoices.net.

On Feb. 11, the founding director of Harvard’s Gender Violence Program will join the online Finding Our Voices Book Club to discuss “The Bonobo Sisterhood.” Rosenfeld writes that “our closest evolutionary cousins,” the Bonobo primates, “have eliminated male sexual coercion by coming to one another’s aid. If a female is aggressed upon, she lets out a special cry and all other females within earshot come immediately to her defense, fending off the male. Women and our allies have to do the same, acting on The Bonobo Principle: ‘Nobody pimps my sister. Everybody is my sister.’”

According to Valerie Jarrett, former senior adviser to President Obama, “the gift of this book is it gives us hope.”

McLean’s personal experience of transcending domestic violence to create the sisterhood and community of Finding Our Voices takes up a chapter of “The Bonobo Sisterhood.” To join the group’s Feb. 9 online book discussion visit, bookclubs.com/finding-our-voices/join/

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For more information about Finding Our Voices visit https://findingourvoices.net/

Local residents achieve
academic honors

Stonehill College named the following local students to the Fall 2024 Dean’s List: Chloe Harding of Biddeford, Cody Ruff of Saco and Matthew Page of Saco.

Local students named to the Plymouth State University President’s List for the Fall 2024 semester include: Kayleigh Smith, interdisciplinary studies major, of Saco; Isabella Kalinyak, chemistry major, of Saco; and Maya MacDonald, elementary education and youth development major, of Saco.

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