Coastal, island pupils learn about hometown opportunities
April 27, 2007
by BILL TROTTER
Bangor Daily News
About 45 children from small coastal and island towns in Maine congregated Thursday at College of the Atlantic to learn what their futures might hold.
The idea of bringing the pupils together was to help teach them about livelihoods they might be able to pursue back home, according to officials with the Rockland-based Island Institute.
The career fair is part of a three-year Community of Rural Education Stewardship and Technology program, which has been funded by a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
Shey Conover, a geographic information systems specialist with Island Institute, said Thursday the institute is trying to boost the availability of information technology in the coastal and island communities it serves.
Often such towns are overly dependent on lobstering and tourism for their economies, she said, and could suffer if either industry experiences a downturn.
By pursuing science careers, particularly in natural resource fields, Conover said, the pupils could help strengthen the economic futures of their hometowns.
"They used to have a viable clamming industry in Vinalhaven," Conover said, citing one example of how scientific research and applications could help improve an island economy. "We're hoping to get them to understand why [each] community is a special place. Hopefully, eight to 10 years down the road, we'll see if it's working."
Sara Nics, a reporter for Maine Public Broadcasting Network, was one of the event's invited speakers.
Before her presentation, she said she planned to stress how some careers that previously were unavailable in remote communities are now possible. Thanks to the Internet, she said, jobs such as reporting and photography can be done from anywhere.
"Even if it seems far-fetched and if it seems like a tiny niche, someone's making a living at it," she said.
Other scheduled speakers included representatives from The Jackson Laboratory, Acadia National Park, KAPPA Mapping Inc., Landmark Corp., and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.
