Another winter is upon us and as I reflect on our time in Orono it reminds me of the chilly walks to class across the mall as the wind gusted and those of you with long hair showed up with your hair dripping because of icicles forming. These days many of us head to warmer climates during the winter. However, there is still a reason to plan to spend time in Orono in the winter! Last year the men’s hockey team and women’s basketball team made the NCAA tournament and tickets to games are once again hard to come by! I was able to grab hockey tickets for the first weekend in January as Maine hosted perennial power Denver. We will also take in Maine’s home game in Portland versus Bentley. I hope to see some of you in the arena or for pregame festivities.
On to the class news! Last year I wrote about Bob MacGregor, who was operating the Waldo County Woodshed in Searsmont. Well, this summer a film about the woodshed was featured in the 27th annual Maine International Film Festival. The seven-minute documentary also featured Prof. Jessica Leahy, with the UMaine School of Forest Resources. Bob indicated that the idea for the woodshed was sparked by an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News written by UMaine researchers and titled “How wood banks could help Mainers avoid an eat or heat dilemma.” This is a wonderful example of how the university continues to play a role in many of our lives.
We depart Maine for Alaska where classmate Robert Stone has authored A Guide to the Corals of Alaska! Typically, we associate corals with warmer climates (or at least I did), but in this case Robert has written about the 161 cold-water corals in Alaska, including very rich Aleutian Islands.
From an author in Alaska and back to Maine to raise the steins to a couple of classmates: Jane Driscoll was recently hired as director of the Campaign for Justice, which raises funds from the legal community for civil league aid in Maine. Deborah Bouchard ’18 Ph.D. was recognized as a 2024 Presidential Award recipient by the university. Deborah has dedicated more than 30 years to advancing aquatic animal health and aquaculture research in Maine. Her research is extensive, and she has served as the director of the Aquaculture Research Institute at UMaine for the past 18 years. Her innovative contributions include coinventing a compound for sea lice, which is a threat to the sustainability of farmed Atlantic Salmon. Congratulations on receiving this well-deserved recognition!
As you receive this issue and look over your class notes I hope you will consider submitting your own! You can do that with an email to me at rdfitta@gmail.com. Send along a favorite memory, a milestone, or perhaps a travel adventure!