Anne Schmidt
Howdy, Black Bears! I hope you are enjoying the beginning of summer. We are certainly in the start of the hottest part of the year, but lucky for my family and me, this is when we escape Houston and head home to Maine. I’m overjoyed to be home this month, spending time with my family and enjoying the Maine air.
We are a little light on class news this issue, so send your notes my way and I’ll get them into the next magazine.
Ryan Logan ’09 Ph.D. was awarded a grant from the National Institute of Health. The professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh was awarded a $1.6 million grant to improve prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction. He has previously done work on this issue with Jackson Lab in Bar Harbor. Congratulations, Ryan!
Onaliese Bailey Petrini has some exciting academic news to report. In August 2019, she passed her board exam with the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and is now a board certified behavior analyst. She has been working for an independent company named William J. White Educational and Behavioral Consulting Services for the past 11 years, first as a behavior specialist and later promoted to an autism program coordinator. She is currently stationed at Laconia Middle and High School, in New Hampshire, where she lives. Congrats, Onaliese. What a wonderful accomplishment.
Quinton Donahue ’10G is the new principal at Gorham Middle School. He began his education career as a math teacher at Hampden Academy and most recently served as principal at Mt. View Middle School in Thorndike for five years. Quinton is also completing his doctorate in educational leadership.
In exciting marriage news, we have two classmates that got married last year. Erin Maguire tells me that she married a "fine non-UMainer” in August. And in academic news, Erin was also named Maine’s 2020 NASSP Assistant Principal of the Year. She is the assistant principal at Bonny Eagle High School, and was presented with the award at the Maine Principals Association conference this April. Congrats, Erin! That is so well deserved!
Nicholas Cloutier also got married last year. Congrats, Nic! He and his husband, Kevin, live in Massachusetts, where Nic recently began working as a transfer counselor and academic advisor at Middlesex Community College. He tells me that they recently bought a house and are enjoying life with their two pets, Sprinkles and Oreo.
Katherine Becrelis opened a music school in Mashpee Commons on Cape Cod called Steeple Street Music in May of 2019. The school offers music and art instruction and is also an art gallery. Katherine teaches high school English and history on the Cape.