Hearty Maine Hello! What a great 25th Homecoming! It was great getting back to Orono and catching up with friends and family! A special thank you to the Alumni Association and University of Maine Foundation for their efforts welcoming us back to campus that weekend.
I would like to recognize members of our class who attended: Kristina Cote, James Davis, Michael Appel, Stacy Musica, Robert Brewer, Jason Syversen, Michele Davis Hubbard, Elizabeth Prouty Orlando, Jonathan Harris, Lisa Greening Burns, Nichole Lee O’Neal ’99G, Eric Simonds, and Adam Fisher.
Congrats to Marc Halsted for being named The Forecaster newspaper’s Northern Edition Spring Coach of the Year in 2023! Marc is the coach of Yarmouth’s baseball team, where he teaches history. After playing infield as a student, Marc started his coaching career at Hampden Academy. He then moved to Yarmouth as a hockey coach in 2005 and the baseball coach in 2007. Over his first 15 seasons he won 170 games and led the Clippers to the Class B Championship in 2017. In spring 2023, Marc again led the Clippers to the playoffs, winning the Southern Maine championship, but unfortunately losing in the Class B State final. Marc also coaches multiple baseball teams from youth to high school, and was previously selected as The Forecaster’s Spring Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2017, and Winter Coach of the Year in 2010 for his efforts as the hockey coach.
Heather Ehrlenbach Dorr ’17G was named principal at Mount Desert Elementary School in August. Heather had been principal at Peninsula School in Gouldsboro for the past four years, where accomplishments included leading the school through the COVID-19 pandemic and transitioning the school from K-8 to PreK-5. Heather taught at Trenton Elementary School from 2003 to 2016 and at Ella Lewis School in Steuben from 2016 to 2019.
Tyler Player was featured in MaineBiz in April for his company Player Design. Player Design designs and builds large-scale industrial machinery for wood products and food recycling operations. Tyler founded Player Design in Presque Isle in 2008. He added Ashland log manufacturer MaineFlame in 2020 and acquired fabrication shop K-Pel Industrial Services in Fort Fairfield in 2022. MaineFlame recently proposed a $7 million expansion of its plant to add the production of steam-exploded wood pellets for heating and industrial power needs domestically and overseas. Before founding Player Design, Tyler was an engineer for Huber Engineered Woods and McCain Foods in Easton, focusing on large capital projects.