Entertainment on Campus

There’s always something fun and exciting to attend at the University of Maine. Orono may be dead at night, but the UMaine campus is very much alive. Comedian, Demetri Martin was here on February 21st and there are still two great acts to stay tuned for this spring! Comedian, Bob Marley is returning to campus on April 11th and tickets are only $5! Last year, the auditorium only sat a few hundred people, but this year, the event has been moved to the newly renovated Collins Center for the Arts, which is near the Memorial Union, so it can accommodate a much larger crowd. Finally, on April 28th, Ben Folds will be returning to campus! He will be performing his musical acts in the CCA as well. All of these events are put on by Residents on Campus (ROC) and Student Entertainment, both of which work very hard to bring a little extra something to UMaine. Their activities attract sell-out crowds every semester. They’re a lot of fun!

Intramural Sports

Because the University of Maine is a Division 1 school, there are many students who have tremendous athletic talent but go unnoticed because they simply cannot compete at a Division 1 level. UMaine does not let that talent go to waste, however! Students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to participate in the variety of intramural activities that UMaine has to offer. The list includes:
3-on-3 Basketball
3-Point Shoot Out
Badminton
Basketball - League Play
Bench Press Meet
Black Bear 5k Race
Black Bear Triathlon
Black Bear XC Ski Race
Broomball
Dodgeball
Field Hockey
Indoor and Dome Soccer
Flag Football
Floor Hockey
Free Throw Contest
Indoor Softball
Indoor Track Meet
Ironperson
Kickball
Knockout Contest
Mountain Bike Race
March Madness BBall Tourney
Pre-Season BBall Tourney
Racquetball
Outdoor Soccer
Softball (Slow Pitch)
Swim Meet
Table Tennis
Tennis
Ultimate (Frisbee)
Volleyball
Wiffleball

As you can see, there’s something for everyone! The UMaine intramural program is great for a number of reasons. First, it allows people to participate in a sport that they perhaps never got the opportunity to participate in. It also allows students to compete at different skill-levels. Lastly, it gives students the opportunity to do some sport official training. Another great thing about the program is that it has activities for girls, guys, and both combined. They really try to satisfy everyone’s needs. I, myself, have participated in intramural field hockey, and I have several friends who are involved in basketball and flag football, and we have all been very satisfied with the organization of all the games and tournaments. All of us have a lot of fun participating in the intramurals here.

To learn more about each activity offered by the intramural program and to see the master schedule of events, visit UMaine's intramural website.

Tutor Program

The Tutor Program at the University of Maine has been a valuable resource for several people I know, including some of my close friends. If there is one thing that UMaine provides outside of the lecture hall that is absolutely indispensable to the well-being of many students, it is the Tutor Program. For some students, lectures and working with their professors just aren’t enough. The Tutor Program provides small group tutoring for a 100 or 200 level class two days a week for the entire semester. Sometimes students get extra special attention and receive one-on-one tutoring. The program is very accommodating for student’s learning styles and busy schedules and the best part is that it’s FREE! Tutor groups consist of students who share the same class and professor so as to encourage dialogue among the students. The tutors find that by just putting a small group of peers together to discuss the class material, it makes their job that much easier because right away, most students feel significantly more comfortable in a smaller group setting. A friend of mine tutors a group of biology students and he is always saying how the students he tutors often teach themselves before he even has to say a word. I have never personally partaken in the Tutor Program, but I’ve heard a lot about it from friends who have been tutored and friends who have been tutors themselves.

The University of Maine definitely does a fantastic job with advertising the Tutor Program in hopes that it will empower students to take control of their own education. Remember, it’s free!! Students don’t really have anything to lose in trying it out!

To learn how to sign up to be tutored or be a tutor, visit their website.

MAINE Day

Freshman year. Wednesday of the last week of classes of the Spring semester. Banging and clanging of UMaine’s marching band. 6am.
This was my initial experience of Maine Day. After looking out my dorm window and after the feeling of disgust wore away, I realized what was going on. There was a parade outside my window! Perhaps the celebration began a bit too early for my liking, but Maine Day is truly a celebration of community service and a great way to have some fun before finals week begins.
According to UMaine’s website, Maine Day was inaugurated by President Arthur Hauck in 1935. On this day in April, all classes are canceled. As I said before, the day begins with a parade by the school’s marching band. Then, for the rest of the morning, students who signed up to participate perform several service projects around the campus. The university likes to think of it as a “spring clean-up.” Then, in the afternoon, the fun begins! The entire steam plant parking lot is cleared of all vehicles so they can host a huge barbecue. Also, Maine Day is infamous for its ooze ball tournament, which is just volleyball played in the mud. Last year it was especially chilly in April and especially muddy by the steam plant parking lot so conditions were quite terrible for those participating in ooze ball and quite hysterical for those just spectating.
This year, Maine Day falls on April 29th. Hopefully it’s slightly warmer than it was last year, but nevertheless, I’m sure it will be just as fun and just as successful!

M-Project

The University of Maine takes special interest in its freshmen and transfer students. It’s obviously important to put a special focus on them because they are the ones that need to be convinced that UMaine is the right university for them. The M-Project is a resource provided by Student Affairs to assist new students in their first year of college. It’s simply a mentor program where each student is assigned a returning University of Maine student who has already experienced their college transitioning period. This mentor is their guide throughout the year. They provide wisdom and moral support to answer any questions that the new students may have. There are countless groups, clubs, and events to get involved in on campus and these mentors can help keep the newbies well-informed. A brief bio of the program can be found on their website, as well as, a link to sign up to be a mentor.

Foster Student Innovation Center

If you look on any bulletin board on the UMaine campus, you are very likely to see a poster about the Foster Student Innovation Center. Well, at least I hope you do because that’s part of my responsibilities as the student administrative aide at the Innovation Center. The Innovation Center is relatively new to campus and recently won a national award for its architecture and Green capabilities. Besides being aesthetically pleasing, the Innovation Center is a great resource for students, staff, and faculty. We primarily help students, but we do have adults who attend many of our seminars. We assist students with a variety of needs. We help those who have an idea for a new product, invention, business, community service project, or even a class project. Our services include four main things: meetings with clients, small business series seminars, snack and yacks, and work space for tenants. Our business seminars are very helpful for those interested in starting their own business. Snack and yacks are one-hour seminars and a snack is always provided. Snack and yacks have a variety of topics. For example, our snack and yack tomorrow is about how to get into the music business. Renting space in the center is free for anyone who is affiliated with the university. We have several large desks and filing cabinets for students to keep their stuff safe in a single location. Tenants have 24-hour access to the building every day of the week. Even if you don’t wish to have space in the building, you can still schedule your own meetings in our classroom or conference room to have a professional location to host any meeting you may have.

Even if you’re unsure whether you have a workable idea or not, just call or email us to set up a meeting. We have several very experienced and knowledgeable adults and graduate students who can speak to you and help you organize your thoughts.

Career Center

To a college student, the word career can be very scary. For four years, we learn all about a certain area of study, and after the day we graduate, most are tossed into uncharted territory. As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, UMaine is constantly seeking new ideas and developing new programs to help ease the many transitions students undergo throughout their college years. The Career Center on campus is another one of those programs. Located on the third floor in the Memorial Union, the Career Center provides countless services to help students reach their career goals. If you need help writing your resume, go to the Career Center! If you need help finding local internships, go to the Career Center! If you need help simply researching your career options according to your major, go to the Career Center! This place can help you every step of the way. They even provide mock job interviews that you can sign up for at your convenience.
If for some reason you can’t find the time to visit the people in the Career Center or you are one of the fortunate ones and already have your entire life and career mapped out for yourself, they always have helpful forms right outside for the taking. From resume tips to proper social etiquette, the Career Center has a helpful form for you to take as you pass by. The Career Center is definitely a great resource for students at every stage in their college career at the University of Maine.

First Year Residential Experience

As a freshman, it is common to feel very overwhelmed upon entering college and it is even more common if you’re attending a large university. Even if you’re coming from a large high school, it’s easy to get lost among the crowd at the University of Maine. Well, there is of course a program that helps to ease the transition for incoming freshmen. This program is called First Year Residential Experience (FYRE). FYRE “support[s] students in dealing with these challenges by placing them together in a supportive, enriched, and vibrant community.” It has developed programs, resources, and services that are provided through various offices around campus to help students gain certain skills to promote personal and social growth so that they may be more successful at UMaine and in the real world. Although FYRE is a very young program, it is doing great things for UMaine’s freshmen.

The following programs are samples of what students can expect. These can also be found on their website:

• Test taking skills
• How to read a college text
• Learning strategies
• Group tutoring
• Time management
• College Student Inventory (CSI)
• Personal finance
• Understanding financial aid
• Career exploration
• Leadership development
• Library use and research methods
• Weekend trips with Maine Bound
• Foreign film series
• Service projects
• Book clubs

FYRE Calendar of Events

Campus Activities Board aka CAB

As it can be assumed from their name, the Campus Activities Board, provides a lot of “extras” for students and faculty at the University of Maine. Comprised of volunteer students, this group organizes all sorts of activities practically every night of the week and most importantly, they are at no cost to anyone who wishes to participate. All of the activities are simply for students to relax, have fun, and enjoy their friends’ company. Their main goal is to keep everything safe, fun, and even a bit educational. CAB provides activities such as movie nights, karaoke, small-scale concerts, Bingo, and many others. They call Fridays their Maine Attraction night because they provide their best entertainment to kick off the weekend. Recent acts have included comedians, hypnotists, chainsaw jugglers, a carnival night, bands, semi-formals, and even a drive-in movie! This group gets very creative. There is always something new and exciting to participate in at the University of Maine because of CAB.

Maine Bound

The words "Maine Bound" don’t mean much to very many students on the University of Maine campus. When you’re walking by the Memorial Union, if you blink, you just might miss the building because it’s so small. If you take a moment to walk into this small light-colored barn, you’d find that great things come in small packages, for Maine Bound has endless opportunities for students.

First of all, they have a 32-ft tower and 12-ft high bouldering wall for anyone to climb on at their own convenience. They are very accommodating for students’ busy schedules. Not only are they open from 11am to 10pm during the week but also from 4pm to 8pm on the weekends. They are even one of the facilities that remain open on snow days, so if students are tired of being cooped up in their rooms all day, they have Maine Bound readily available to them.

Maine Bound’s primary goal is to get students involved with the outdoors. My roommate, Jessa Moody, works at Maine Bound and is an avid rock climber and she is constantly filling me in on Maine Bound’s next outdoor adventure. She recently went to Mexico during Spring Break with a group of coworkers and other UMaine students who signed up for the excursion. There, they rock climbed everyday and then slept at a campground. Also, a different group of students went sea kayaking in the Everglades during Spring Break.

The Mexico and Everglades trips are two of the biggest and most popular outings that Maine Bound hosts; however, they host a slew of other activities throughout each semester. Through Maine Bound, students have the opportunity to go ice climbing, hiking, canoeing, sea kayaking, rock climbing, and white water kayaking with the guidance of Maine Bound certified leaders. My roommate is always very busy participating in all of these activities!

Furthermore, Maine Bound isn’t just all about exercise and being one with nature. Surprisingly, you can learn vital life skills through activities they offer. For example, Maine Bound has a ropes course where groups can go to learn the importance of teamwork. Maine Bound workers facilitate groups as they help one another through the course. The entire process is a progression beginning with simple name games and ending with low and high elements that really test the collaborative effort of the group.

Maine Bound even makes a great effort to make the transition into college a bit smoother for freshmen. They organize several “Options Trips” for small groups of freshmen to go hiking, climbing, canoeing, and kayaking for four days before school begins in the fall. This not only allows students to become familiar with the opportunities that Maine Bound offers, but it also gives students an chance to form some great friendships even before the academic year begins.

Like I said, great things come in small packages. Maine Bound is a very little building but their influence stretches far beyond the UMaine campus. Whether you’re the“outdoorsy” type or not, I encourage everyone to check it out. You might be surprised!

How to get to Maine Bound/Campus Map

Blog Topic/Beat

The topics that I will discuss in this blog include anything that involves the University of Maine's effort to do something more than just educate students in the classroom. There are numerous extra activities and events that take place everyday on campus that many don't know about. These are activites run by students, staff, and even professors that are aimed at enriching everyone's experience at UMaine and helping others in the area. Many involve UMaine's attempt to give back to the community while others involve the university's attempt to educate younger students and prepare them for their next level of education. I think it's important for everyone on campus to know that their educational institution is doing much more that just paying professors to lecture the students. There are so many others ways to learn and get involved with your school. There are over 100 clubs at UMaine and places on campus such as the Foster Student Innovation Center and the Career Center that are underutilized by students, and hopefully this series of blogs will help shine some light on opportunities that are offered by activities and places such as these.