Featured Business
Chisholm Ski Club
The Chisholm Ski Club, one of the nation’s oldest and most active ski clubs, provides opportunities for recreational Alpine and Nordic skiing and ski racing at the Black Mountain of Maine Ski Area in Rumford. It began in 1923, planning for the first annual winter carnival in 1924. The event became the most popular carnival in Maine, hosting Maine and New England amateur championships starting in 1929. The club has continued to promote family recreational skiing and competitive skiing in the greater Rumford area since 1960 at Black Mountain of Maine.
The Club has hosted numerous world class and national Nordic skiing events, including International Ski Federation World Championships (1950), NCAA National championships ( 1976, 1999 and 2009),USCSA National Championships ( 2008 and 2010), National cross country Championship (1958 and 1993), National Biathlon Championship (1991), Junior Olympics Cross Country Championships (1992 and 1996), Chevy Truck U. S. Cross Country Championships (1999, 2003 and 2004), U. S. Cross Country Championships (2011 and 2012).
The Club also has hosted local, state and regional Alpine and Nordic races creating a full schedule of events throughout the winter season arranged to accommodate the family recreational program. Annual events include the Sassi and Junior Sassi cross country races for high school and middle school skiers to raise scholarship funds. The Club also holds an annual meeting and a member/volunteer banquet following the close of the winter program.
Maine’s Collegiate Nordic Championship is named after Wendall “Chummy” Broomhall, two-time Nordic Olympian, Olympic cross country trail designer, the honorary leader of the Chisholm Ski Club and a 91 year old Rumford native.
Club members are skiers, parents, former club skiers and others who are interested in the club’s mission to promote healthy outdoor skiing and support Black Mountain of Maine’s mission to promote healthy affordable outdoor family fun. Several generations of families continue to ski the slopes in Rumford and enjoy watching their children participate in competitions through the school systems’ ski teams. Young skiers who qualify are supported financially by the club for some of the costs of participating in regional and national competitions and clinics, provided the family volunteers in club events.
Chisholm Ski Club
Post Office Box 616
Rumford, ME 04276
(207) 449-3450
Email: rarsenault3@gmail.com
Website: www.chisholmskiclub.org
News & Notes
Oxford Hills Technical School is most successful in state
February 17, 2012
The Oxford Hills Technical School is emerging as one of the most successful technical programs in the state, according to OHTS Director Shawn Lambert.
Lambert touted many of the program’s strengths during a presentation to the SAD 17 Board of Directors.
The enrollment rate is triple the statewide average.
“If you look at all the students who are eligible to attend a technical school, [and see] what percentage actually do, the state average is 15 percent,” he said. “Our average is 45 percent. That’s just an incredible number.”
Lambert said that he didn’t deserve the credit for the staggering statistic.
“That’s nothing that I’ve done,” he said. “That’s me just inheriting something. The reason is the comprehensive model.”
OHTS is seamlessly integrated into the Oxford Hills High School, said Lambert, which allows a broad range of students to take advantage of a wide array of programs.
Other technical schools might have very limited offerings, such as truck driving and forestry.
OHTS does have programs geared toward similar blue-collar and service industry vocations, including not only forestry, but automotive collision repair, diversified occupations, automotive technology, culinary arts and building construction.
However, it also includes a variety of more white-collar and public service industries, such as business education, law enforcement, pre-engineering, banking, early childhood education, communications, computer-aided drafting design, graphic arts, and health care.
“The school has a very wide range of offerings,” said Lambert.
With classrooms that occupy space in the high school, and the sheer volume of careers on offer, it’s no wonder that OHTS draws in many students. Many students don’t even realize that they’re enrolled in OHTS.
“We try to blur the lines whenever possible,” said Lambert.
The approach seems to be attracting students like flies to honey.
This year, 82.5 percent of the school’s 992 slots were filled. The program boasts 437 students in programs that occupy two or three class periods.
With large numbers of mainstream students participating in OHTS, the school has also become a state leader in academic performance.
“On average, we perform much higher than most technical schools in the state,” reported Lambert. “In fact, we score 10 points higher than the AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress] goals that are required of us.”
The program is to the advantage of many students, who can, in many cases, earn college credits without paying for them.
Last year, 50 students picked up 189 college credits by participating in OHTS programs.
OHTS has developed a series of relationships with college institutions that help transition students into higher learning opportunities. The school’s relationship with Central Maine Community College has been a vital part of its success.
“OHTS has more … agreements with CMCC than any other secondary school in the country,” said Lambert. In turn, he said, “CMCC has more … agreements than any other college in New England. They’re a very big player in this, and we have more with them than anyone else.”
Another indicator of the program’s success, said Lambert, can be seen in the school’s annual Skills Challenge competition, which recently saw 300 students come together to demonstrate their skills in everything from fashion design to computer technology.
“Historically, we’ve always had students go to nationals,” said Lambert.
They don’t only go to nationals, said Tom Moore, a member of the board.
“When these youngsters go to nationals, invariably they come back placing in honors,” he said.
Last year, the Oxford Hills team took home eight medals from the SkillsUSA State Championship, including three gold medals.
One student, Melissa Lebel won fourth place in the nation in the Welding Sculpture competition.
Lambert said that in the future, he will try to build upon the program’s many successes.
“I’m smart enough to know when something’s good.”
Reprinted with permission from The Advertiser-Democrat.
Newry planners to go big screen
February 7, 2012
BETHEL — For town planners who don’t like slogging through mud and snow to review potential development sites, Newry Planning Board Chairman Brooks Morton has a solution: Use GIS mapping technology to take “virtual site walks.”
Morton brought a large monitor and his laptop to Monday’s selectmen’s meeting to show the board the value of GIS technology in planning.
But before his presentation even began, he unexpectedly had an opportunity to use it to aid in a code enforcement discussion.
Selectmen had learned that a contractor recently drove an excavator across town property, knocking down several trees in the process, to get to an adjacent private property. As they tried to understand the layout of the two properties, Morton came to the rescue.
He called up an aerial photo on the big screen and zoomed in, helping the board and Code Enforcement Officer Dave Bonney to understand the route taken by the piece of equipment.
Bonney was expected to look into the matter.
Returning to the original purpose of his presentation, Morton said he had talked with developers about the possibility of using the monitor in their application presentations to planners, and received a favorable response.
Currently applicants provide maps for each planner.
“If we had the screen mounted on the wall, the applicant could plug in his computer, rather than all us of looking through our [paper] files to get the same map,” said Morton. “It would keep everyone focused, and we’d move through it faster.”
The aerial photos could serve the same purpose as site walks, in which planners schedule on-site inspections.
Morton also demonstrated how the digital maps can be overlaid with other features, such as wetlands.
But, he said, hard copy maps would still be required for records, and would be used with applicants who do not have the technology.
Morton and the selectmen agreed there was also potential for the equipment and technology to be used by town officials, including the Fire Department, for other uses, such as online training.
The board decided to buy the equipment, and chose a desktop for the computer.
Energy savings
In other business, selectmen discussed steps to take to improve energy efficiency for the town.
Town Administrator Loretta Powers said the town could save money on its electrical bills by enrolling online at Electricity Maine. The company’s website says it can sell electricity supplies directly to residential and small business customers at rates below the standard charged by Central Maine Power Co. The board decided to sign up.
The board also discussed an Efficiency Maine evaluation of the 50-year-old town office building.
Bonney listed a number of recommendations, including replacing the furnace and adding insulation.
The furnace, original to the building, had an expected life of 25 to 30 years. “We’re living on borrowed time with the furnace,” said Chairman Jim Largess. “My thinking is we start with the furnace.”
Bonney said the furnace was a priority recommendation from Efficiency Maine.
The board asked Bonney to get estimates for the furnace and duct work insulation.
Implementing all the recommendations would cost about $30,000, he said.
Selectmen also began a preliminary discussion of the 2012 municipal budget, which they will continue at a special meeting Jan. 31 at 5 p.m. at the town office.
Reprinted with the permission of The Bethel Citizen