The Maine State Society of Washington DC is pleased and proud to welcome our 2023 scholars. Each year, the MSS has the great privilege of helping students attend Maine colleges and universities through the foresight and efforts of our supporters, donor and volunteers. These gifted Mainers are our future!
$1,500 Marjorie Pearson Scholarship Recipient: Naomi Lynch
Naomi is a rising Junior at Bates College in Lewiston, ME, where she has a 3.5 GPA and is pursuing a major in Environmental Studies and a minor in Religious Studies. Outside of academics, her work experience shows her dedication to the Maine environment. She practices land stewardship and conservation as an outreach coordinator at the Androscoggin Land Trust and an intern at the Kennebec Land Trust (KLT), and as a farmer and farmstand associate at Christianson Farm in Readfield. She is currently holding an internship position at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center to help promote sustainable food growth in Lewiston. Naomi embraces volunteer experiences that support the beauty and bounty of Maine’s outdoors, including through harvesting blueberries on the Beech Hill Preserve for the Coastal Mountain Land Trust, doing trail work and removal of invasive species along the International Appalachian Trail in the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, harvesting produce at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, and regularly supporting the Common Ground Fair sponsored by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. She also served as a volunteer in the gardens to grow flora for products to fund the Center for Wisdom's Women, an organization in Lewiston that helps women heal through the art of gardening. As a high-school student, she was selected to participate in outdoor leadership experiences through the Maine Youth Wilderness Leadership Program and the Ripple Effect Youth Leadership Summit. A life-long Mainer, Naomi was born in Portland and graduated from Hall-Dale High School in Farmingdale.
In her essay, Naomi reflects on her time at the Center for Wisdom’s Women as “her first experience with the intersection of nature and community engagement.” She credits an open mind and a willingness to learn as key to breaking down misconceptions and expanding her perspective and understanding of others. During her internship with the KLT, she pursued an optional independent research project focused on the Syrian refugee population in Augusta. With the help of a translator, she learned from the new Mainers about the importance of time in nature and the challenges of accessing it due to lack of transportation, so she coordinated an outing for 27 people to visit one of the KLT lake properties. The experience gave her insight into how she could use her position to aid new Mainers and she successfully pursued a grant for the KLT to expand access through transportation, education, and accommodations. She believes that Maine’s abundance of natural beauty can play a role in bringing people together to build understanding and respect for different viewpoints, and is actively working to use nature as a means of building stronger communities.
$1500 Dirigo Scholarship Recipient: Amanda Poulin
Amanda is a Sophomore at the University of Maine in Orono, ME, where she is pursuing a major in Biomedical Engineering. Her extracurricular activities include playing the clarinet in the school’s orchestra and participating in the biomedical engineering club. Amanda submitted a professional resume detailing her work as a tutor at TRIO Student Support Services, where she provided educational support in chemistry. Her previous experience includes working at the Presque Isle Animal Hospital to help care for pets and clean the facility, as well as supervising children, supporting services and programming, and maintaining a welcoming environment at the Caribou Recreation Department. Amanda was born in Seoul, South Korea and adopted by Mainers as an infant, so she has lived in Aroostook County for nearly her entire life; she grew up in Woodland and graduated fourth in her class from Caribou High School.
In her essay she focused on the meaning of Dirigo. Amanda shared more about herself and the challenges she has faced, along with how she approaches leadership in her life. She credits her mother with teaching her how to become a true leader, and she has used those lessons to take on both formal and informal leadership roles. Amanda was born with a condition called achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism that affected her growth, but she was taught to embrace who she is and has accepted that there is nothing she can do about looking different. She mentions learning at an early age that age and size are irrelevant when it comes to leadership potential. She is proud of her leadership roles in tutoring, serving as treasurer for Caribou High School’s National Honor Society chapter, and teaching children to play sports in after school programs at her local rec center. She enjoys learning about new techniques in the medical and engineering space and aspires to become a biomedical engineer focused on prosthetics in order to help people with disabilities overcome physical challenges so they can achieve their dreams.