OXFORD — Oxford Hills School District Superintendent Rick Colpitts told directors Monday that the Aspire Higher program, which promotes secondary educational goals, is even more important here in Maine.

“The number of jobs we have here in Maine is still pretty significant,” he said, reporting on a a recent seminar he attended on Maine’s shifting labor market. The problem, he said, is a lack of skilled laborers in this state.

“That hit me,” Colpitts told the directors.

Colpitts said the need for post-secondary education to attain a set of additional job skills was particularly evident at a meeting with the Paris-based Maine Machine company officials. He said they reported they only hire workers with a certain set of post-high-school skills.

“If you talk about aspirations it has never been greater than it is today,” he said.

Aspire Higher is a four-week program, including in-school activities and a communitywide celebration, that culminates in the distribution of some 60 college scholarships. Each year students who walk in the Aspire Higher parade are eligible to enter a drawing for a $100 scholarship.

Activities have been ongoing throughout the past several weeks to provide students systemwide with the desire to achieve beyond a high school diploma. At the Otisfield Community School, for example, kindergarten students were asked Monday to draw pictures of themselves as adults. The pictures were hung in the gymnasium and each student stood under their picture, Principal Linda Park said. When asked to explain what they aspire to be as an adult, Park said, “They were quick to tell and and tell me why.”

From veterinarians to police officers, the kindergarten students explained their intentions after high school graduation.

The program is continuing throughout the school district this month with other activities.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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