FARMINGTON — Students in the Honors Club at the University of Maine at Farmington support each other, partake of educational and social opportunities and do community-oriented projects, Jennifer Bertino, club president and a UMF sophomore from Fryeburg, said.

The Honors Club is open to anyone on campus and includes several involved in the Honors Program on campus, she said.

The Honors Program has grown the past few years, although the university raised entry requirements, Mellisa Clawson, director of the program, said. Students in the top 10 percent of their class are invited to join the Honors Program along with some transfer students and those already on campus whose grade point averages warrant it, she said.

A separate house on Lincoln Street is a place for Honors Program students to gather and study. They also take Honors Program classes in the small living room.

The academic program is open to any major and offers courses that can be applied to general education requirements. The courses are not necessarily harder but involve more reading and writing, she said.

A dozen or so students gather in the house for a class of intensive discussion. Clawson expects students to have already read, thought about the subject and written about it.

“The house provides a really cozy, friendly place for everyone, a community within a community,” she said. On most days, “there’s any number of students doing homework and working on projects. It’s a terrific hub of activity.”

The academic Honors Program is supported by the university like any department, whereas the Honors Club is more of a social organization, governed by the Student Senate.

The Honors Club has also grown this year with 13 active members. They have worked on a petition campaign for the Franklin County Animal Shelter, where they also want to volunteer. They hosted a talk with author Cynthia Lord last week, and for fun recently traveled to Boston to tour museums, an aquarium and observatory, Bertino said.

Club members worked on a campaign to raise signatures to help the animal shelter earn another grant from Bangor Savings Bank’s Community Matters, she said.

They also created duct tape samples for the shelter’s recent fundraiser.

Cynthia Lord is the mother of club member Julia Bald. Lord came to campus this past week to talk about entering the world of publishing as a first-time author of children and young adult material.

As a break during finals, the group is preparing for a campus karaoke night on May 3 and will return in August to help with freshmen orientation, she said.

For Bertino, the program and club were an extension of her efforts before coming to UMF. An education major, she started making radio commercials for her mother’s business when she was 12. She also started working in local convenience stores and restaurants at an early age, she said.

Bertino is also vice president of the university’s Roteract Club and plans to spend six weeks this summer in Italy learning and teaching English as a second language.

[email protected]

Supporting Sponsor for Franklin Journal, Livermore Falls Advertiser, Rangeley Highlander and Rumford Falls Times.
Keeping communities informed by supporting local news. franklinsavings.bank