Let’s Get Social: February 2025

ICYMI, here’s a sampling of what was liked, loved, and shared on our social media channels in February 2025.

Shared Values, missions were on the menu at our Community organizations BreakfasT

With heavy snow in the forecast on February 6, we were delighted to have nearly 20 representatives from Maine schools, colleges, scholarship programs, and nonprofits join us at the Mitchell Institute for a Community Organizations breakfast. Organized by Mitchell Institute Events Manager Alex Carrier Hitchcox and Scholarship Director Casey Near, the hour-long event gave attendees from nonprofits with similar values and missions the chance to learn more about the programs they offer, the populations they serve, and the opportunities they have to collaborate in service to Maine’s young people. “It was an energizing, collaborative morning,” said Near. “So often, we can feel siloed in our work, and it was heartening to connect over coffee and see we’re in this together.” We’re deeply grateful to the representatives from the following organizations for joining us: Alfond Scholarship Foundation, Bates College, Bowdoin College Upward Bound, Educate Maine, EqualityMaine, FAME Maine, Let’s Get Ready, the Maine Community College System, Make It Happen, Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute, Portland Public Schools, Presente! Maine, Southern Maine Community College, Spurwink Services, United Way of Southern Maine, and the University of Southern Maine.

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Helping Scholars and Alumni See the Value of Going the Extra MILE

One thing we do every February is help Mitchell Scholars and Alumni see the value of attending MILE II in early March. And what better way to do that than to show them a video of last year’s uplifting and engaging career and professional development day? In addition to a continental breakfast, lunch, and refreshments (and help with carpooling and gas cards for attendees traveling from a distance) this year’s MILE II program will feature:

A dynamic Alumni panel about embracing non-linear career paths
Engaging breakout sessions on topics ranging from graduate school, negotiating job offers, making the most out of college, and preventing burnout
A new networking simulation activity to help Scholars build professional connections
The chance to have a high-quality portrait taken for their LinkedIn profiles
The opportunity for Scholars and Alumni to network throughout the day

And if that’s not enough, we’re hosting an optional post-event open house after MILE II back at the Mitchell Institute. As ever, we’re deeply grateful to Unum for once again sponsoring MILE II at their headquarters in Portland.

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Near shares five tips with Ten Days to Go

With the Mitchell Scholarship deadline looming at midnight on March 1, Scholarship Director Casey Near took to the social media airwaves to offer Maine high school students five tips to get their completed applications across the finish line in time. Her message begins with a compelling reminder: We will be awarding a $10,000 scholarship to at least one graduate of every public high school in Maine. In addition to Casey’s 10-days-to-go tips at the link below, you can see all of her tips for applying on YouTube.

See Casey’s Five Tips

UMaine’s President Plays Host to Scholars and Alumni

In the last week of February, the slate of 2025 campus receptions kicked off with gatherings of Mitchell Scholars and Alumni at Husson University and the University of Maine. The photos above were from the UMaine campus reception, where President Joan Ferrini-Mundy played host to Mitchell Scholars and Mitchell Institute staff, including CEO Jared Cash, Scholarship Director Casey Near, Director of Development Jeff Candura, and Events Manager Alex Carrier Hitchcox, who worked with UMaine staff to organize the gathering. We couldn’t have been happier to see about 25 UMaine-based Mitchell Scholars at the annual campus reception, including Campus Ambassadors Weston Hartley, the 2022 Mitchell Scholar from Edward Little High School and a junior Biomedical Engineering major; and Annie Bickerstaff, the 2022 Mitchell Scholar from Central High School and a junior Anthropology major. Joining the reception were three Mitchell Scholar alumni who work at UMaine: Nicole Cloud, the 2001 Mitchell Scholar from Telstar Regional High School and now the Peer Services Coordinator and Advisor in TRIO Student Support Services at UMaine; Jessica Drew, the 2017 Mitchell Scholar from Hodgdon Middle/High School and now an Assistant Athletic Trainer in UMaine’s Department of Athletics; and Sean Sibley, the 2010 Mitchell Scholar from Mattanawcook Academy and now the Family Nurse Practitioner Program Coordinator and a Clinical Assistant Faculty member in UMaine’s School of Nursing. Thanks to Mitchell Institute Events Manager Alex Carrier Hitchcox, more campus receptions are in the works for spring 2025.

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