If you’ve been in The County for a while, odds are you’ve heard the name Jason Parent, and if you haven’t it’s only a matter of time.
Although he was born in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Parent’s parents raised their son in Van Buren.
He spoke French before learning English from his father, who also was his kindergarten teacher. It’s not hard to miss his accent.
Looking back at his childhood he did everything you’d expect a County kid to do. It wasn’t until high school that his English teacher put him on a path that would lead to a successful career in public relations and civic engagement.
In his sophomore year, Parent and his friends established a “studio club” where they produced a weekly high school television news show after school called CTV5 Alive.
They covered news in the Van Buren, Grand Isle and Cyr Plantation area. His school had a cable access television station that would air in his community every Wednesday night.
Summer break was on the horizon when his English teacher noticed Parent wanted to continue his news career and offered to help him find work for the summer at WAGM. Breaking the tradition of only hiring college interns, WAGM made room in its newsroom for Parent.
But he was 15 and didn’t have a driver’s license, which meant he had to catch a ride from Van Buren to Presque Isle on a bus.
Wrapped up in the news world, Parent occasionally missed his ride on the bus back home, leaving him to call mom and dad.
Parent kept this up over the coming years until he graduated and went to the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
His focus and work ethic make him a human laser beam, which is probably why WAGM’s news director called him up and offered him a paying job his freshman year of college.
On top of a full load at the university he was working as a part-time reporter and news assistant and it wasn’t long until he had his own feature series that aired on Saturdays, called “Something Special.”
Crossing the threshold into his 20s and graduating from UMPI with a communication degree, Parent was named the executive director of the Greater Madawaska Chamber of Commerce before he was old enough to drink.
After three years as executive director, he springboarded into an assistant director of university relations position at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. A month later he was made director.
Already forging a career in communication, he took on the responsibility of joining the local Rotary Club. If that wasn’t enough, he met a female student from Halifax during his eight years at UMFK.
Before long, Jason married Kim and they had two kids.
Next came half a dozen years at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle, a trio of years beefing up The Aroostook Medical Center’s public presence and eventually, “I found what I feel is where I was meant to be,” he said.
In the fall of 2015, he became the CEO and executive director of the Aroostook County Action Program.
He has volunteered with myriad projects and organizations. He’s been the youngest member on boards, president of clubs, and emcee of parades — the word “vacation” isn’t in his vocabulary. He doesn’t even drink coffee, so what’s the secret to all that energy?
“I don’t have an off button,” he said. “I really think I want to live three lifetimes in one.”
His life has been a successful series of chess moves to become a pillar in his community, and he still has at least another 60 more years to go. If you give Jason Parent something to do, he’s “Gonna get it done.”
