TRiO recognizes area University of Maine at Fort Kent students

    FORT KENT, Maine — The TRiO Student Support Services Program at the University of Maine at Fort Kent held its fifth annual recognition banquet on April 17, to honor students involved in the TRiO program. UMFK President Wilson G. Hess provided the welcome address.
TRiO Student Support Services is funded through the Department of Education under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and are referred to as the TRiO Programs because there were initially three programs. TRiO programs are designed to help low-income, first-generation, and/or disabled students, under the guidelines of the American with Disabilities Act.
The Student Support Services Program’s focus is to insure that their participants have a realistic chance to persist in school and graduate from the University of Maine at Fort Kent. To accomplish these objectives, they provide services to enhance students’ academic success, personal skills, and social skills.
The banquet’s keynote speaker was Reverend James Nadeau, the St. John Vianney Parish priest. He is an alumnus of TRiO’s Upward Bound program. Father Nadeau attributes much of his success to Upward Bound.He received the distinguished National TRiO Achiever award at New England Educational Opportunity Association’s annual conference in 1997 and has spoken at TRiO national conventions. He continues to support and advocate for TRiO in numerous ways.
Special awards went to the following local students: Russ Mortland of Presque Isle, most successful senior award and TRiO Helping TRiO Recognition and Travis Norsworthy of Fort Fairfield, TRiO Helping TRiO Recognition.
The following TRiO students, who will graduate this month, were recognized and presented with their Student Support Services cords, which they can wear at graduation. The graduates-to-be who were honored include: Mortland and Mitchell Folsom and Lisa Sutton, both of Mars Hill.