UMPI students in D.C.
PRESQUE ISLE — Nine students and Professor Lisa Leduc from the University of Maine at Presque Isle spent April break in Washington, D.C. attending a training at the National Holocaust Museum that focuses on the potential for abuse of power in policing. Police agencies from around the country send officers for this training, which was originally created for the DC police force. All FBI agents and staff are now required to take this training. This is the second time UMPI students participated; the last time was in 2005 with Professor Dick Ayre.
The trip was arranged through the Criminal Justice Club. Members of the club sold shirts and travel coffee mugs to help cover costs. The Student Senate also helped fund the trip.
The group spent all day at the Holocaust Museum, starting off with a VIP-guided tour and then spent several hours with museum staff for the training. The training, which focuses on such topics as racial profiling, was also a history lesson about the Holocaust. Dr. Peter Black, the museum’s senior historian, shared with students the political and economic climate in Europe from 1918-1933, which precipitated the horrific events of the Holocaust.
The students also took in some of the other sights in the Capitol such as the Smithsonian Institute, Arlington National Cemetery, the Law Enforcement Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Supreme Court and the Ford Theatre, among others. Staff from Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office gave the group a guided tour of the Capitol Building.
The club members gave a presentation of their trip at University Day on campus. The presentation covered specific information gained from the training, reflections on the exhibit, as well as a photo array of the sites visited in Washington.
UTIMES staff visits NYC
There’s nothing like seeing the Big Apple during St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Just ask staffers at the University Times, the student newspaper at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Four members of the newspaper staff and their adviser were in New York City from March 15 to 17 for the College Media Advisers’ 2007 Spring National Media Convention. The conference – attended by thousands of college students and advisers across the country who work with student-run newspapers, radio stations, television stations and Web sites – is the biggest spring conference of its kind in the world.
Representing UMPI at the conference were Jake Ball, Larry French, Lisa Rockwell, William Coppola III and adviser Rachel Rice.
Along with attending conference sessions on everything from business and marketing to interviewing and page design, the northern Maine contingent also took in many sites around Manhattan. The group visited Tribeca, Ground Zero, Chinatown, Pier 17, Times Square, Hello Deli, took in an off-Broadway musical and watched the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
This is the second national conference that members of the UTimes’ staff have attended during the academic year. Last November, staffers attended a national college media conference in St. Louis, which coincided with the World Series.
“These are amazing opportunities for our local students,” Rice said. “They get to meet students from all over the U.S. who are doing the same kind of work, they visit these great cities during amazing events and they walk away with knowledge that will help them to create more professional student newspapers.”
The trip was made possible by funding from UMPI’s Student Senate, WUPI 92.1 FM and the President’s Office. Students intend to use the knowledge they gained in New York City to improve their bi-weekly paper, which has been published for more than 20 years.
If you are an UMPI student and are interested in joining the UTimes staff, please contact Editor Wendy Koenig at 768-9565 or send an e-mail to utimes@umpi.maine.edu.
