Audubon program

FALMOUTH – A free program, “Snowy Owl Ecology,” will be offered by Denver Holt at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7, at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center.

Each summer since 1993 researchers and volunteers from the Owl Research Institute in Montana have spent nearly three months in the Arctic chronicling the breeding ecology of snowy owls, looking specifically at diet, habitat, reproductive success and the owls’ relationship to native Inupiat Eskimo culture.

Holt, institute president, will talk about and show slides of the project’s findings to date. For more information, call Maine Audubon at 781-2330 or e-mail [email protected].

Park closing

GRAY – The Maine Wildlife Park will close for the 2005 season on Friday, Nov. 11. Since it is Veterans Day, the park will recognize and thank all Maine military personnel and veterans for their service by offering them one free adult admission to the park on that day.

In spite of a late opening due to heavy snow cover, along with a rainy spring and fall, the park saw stable attendance.

The park will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free for ages 4 and under; $3.25, ages 5 to 12; $5, adults; and $4, seniors. Groups of 15 or more are $2.50 a person. Family season passes are available for 2006.

For more information, call the park at 657-4977, ext. 1, or visit www.mainewildlifepark.com.

Kids contest

PORTLAND – For the sixth year in a row, the Maine Humanities Council is the Maine sponsor for the national essay contest, “Letters About Literature.”

The free annual contest is open to students from grades four to 12, and invites participants to write a short letter to an author – living or dead – explaining how that author’s book changed their way of viewing the world and themselves.

The deadline for entries is Dec. 1.

Applications, samples of winning letters and a sheet of tips are available online at www.mainehumanities.org or by contacting Lisa Adams at the council at 773-5051 or [email protected].

Dean named

STANDISH – Vincent J. Kloskowski III of West Brownfield has been appointed dean of admission at Saint Joseph’s College.

He graduated with honors from Saint Joseph’s in 1995 and has been a member of the admission staff since 1997. Kloskowski completed his master’s degree in higher education administration from Boston College, while serving as an admission officer there in the Carroll Graduate School of Management and adjunct lecturer in the Lynch School of Education.

Kloskowski was voted Outstanding College Admission Counselor of the Year for Maine in 2000 and earned the Human Relations Award for Excellence in College Admission Counseling in 2003 from New England Association for College Admission Counseling. He also serves as an assembly delegate for the association.