Gathering in Little Hall on Thursday night with guitars, amps and good vibes, members of the University of Maine Guitar Club prepared for a night full of music.

“The Guitar Club here at UMaine is just a chill and fun way to get to know other people who love music and playing guitar as much as you,” first-year student Kathryn Klebon said. She serves as the secretary of the club. “Because college is so hectic, and oftentimes as a musician I don’t get to practice and play as often as I’d like to, it’s nice to have a set time blocked out in your schedule where you know you can just relax and play.”

Second-year student and president Liam Kent formed the group a little over one year ago. His goal was to create a fun, stress-free environment where music was the center of attention.

“I’ve always wanted to join a guitar club, and I saw that our school had an acoustic club on campus,” Kent said. “I searched online and on Facebook for the information and meeting times, but all the participants had graduated. I got a few people together who wanted to form a club, and last year we were recognized by the Student Government as an official group.”

The club meets once a week on Thursdays at 7 p.m. in Little Hall. At each meeting, students gather in small groups to play and perform for each other. They also work on building music-making skills and refining technique, as well as helping beginners get a feel for the instrument, teaching them chords and steps. The group plays various genres of music, and welcomes people from all different skill and levels.

“This club is so great because the more you play with others, and connect with other musicians, the better you get as a guitar player,” fifth-year student and vice president Kyle Schumacher said. “We have a relaxed, open-door policy in the club, we always welcome new people to join no matter if they have previous guitar playing experience or not.”

Planning and brainstorming for future events and performances, members of the club hope to see it grow and expand as they take on different projects and host events. The club continues to hold meetings every week and do what they love, and the guitarists put time and energy into making sure it is a relaxing and uplifting environment.

“We want to help people on campus network together with other musicians, and get better as a community,” Kent said. “We want to spread good vibes, and one of the ways we are trying to reach out to more people is by planning events like a Battle of The Bands or giving lessons to other students. We have a lot of opportunities to make a difference and bring the music scene more alive here at the school.”

For more information please visit the University of Maine Guitar Club on Facebook, or contact Liam.Kent@maine.edu

Gathered together with German baked goods and smiles on their faces, members of the German club sold their award-winning desserts at “Cafe Wien.” The event was held on Tuesday, Nov. 14 in the Memorial Union from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“Walking into the Lown room, I was so happy to see so many friendly and smiling faces,” Katarina Hojohn, a first-year student said. “I was greeted at the door with a beautiful German flag, and the amazing smells of all the desserts. These activities and cultural clubs on campus are such an important part of our diversity here in Maine.”

Students of the club baked and sold many different types of German desserts, including a black forest cherry cake (Schwarzwalderkirschtorte), a raspberry jam tarte (Linzer torte), cheesecake (Kasekuchen) and a custard almond dessert (Bienenstich). The event was held to gather club members together and share a part of the German culture with students and staff.

“The German Club is an organization for any student interested in German culture & language. We’ll plan something as simple as German board game and movie nights, to Cafe Wien, which has been a long-standing tradition at the University of Maine,” Claudia Desjardins, the treasurer said. “We have also hosted lecture series about German history. At Cafe Wien, we sell homemade, traditional German desserts, which is what we’re known for.”

The German Club takes part in the annual Culturefest, and for three years in a row they won the food competition for best desserts.

The German club hosts many different types of events including movie nights and group discussions that help give students a firsthand view of what life is like for students and people of German-speaking countries in Europe. At each meeting and event, a German “phrase of the day” is mentioned and explained to help students become more familiar with the german language and feel comfortable practicing it.

“I wanted to get involved with the club because my mother is from Germany, so I have family in Stuttgart and it’s nice to keep up with the culture when I am here,” Desjardins said. “Other members in our club also have German heritage, or have studied abroad in a German speaking country. I think it’s very important to be exposed to different cultures and languages, because you never know when it will come in handy, especially the language aspect. It’s also a great opportunity to encourage people to step out of their comfort zone, whether it’s with learning a language, giving a talk, or baking a new recipe.”

The German Club meets every Thursday night in 207 Little Hall at 7:30 p.m. For more information please visit facebook.com/umainegermanclub or email claudia.desjardins@maine.edu.

On Oct. 30, a few minutes after 8 a.m., bad weather and wind storms knocked out power in many buildings all over the state, as well as on the University of Maine campus.  At 8:14 a.m., UMaine’s emergency system sent out a campus-wide text letting students and residents on campus know that power had gone out. Soon after, multiple text alerts notified students of canceled classes for the day, and sent out reminders to be cautious when going outside and to watch out for fallen trees and debris from the storm.

The alerts also notified students that many of the buildings around campus had to be evacuated. Over 255 residents packed bags and headed out of their dorms to the New Balance Recreation Center, based on a tally kept by rec center employees. Other students were sent to the Memorial Union.

“The situation was a stressful one because of the low levels of communication. No one had any idea what was going on besides what was sent out publicly in the texts, and even the RA’s didn’t know what was happening,” first-year student and Penobscot resident Sierra Harmon said. “The honors buildings were some of the first to be evacuated, and we had to rush to pack our things and had no clue when we would be back in our rooms.”

The campus recreation center closed at 2:50 p.m. to allow students who were evacuated to stay in the center’s main gym area. Dorm buildings Balentine, Penobscot, Colvin and Estabrooke were evacuated to the center at 3:30 p.m. York, Kennebec, Aroostook and Stodder halls were evacuated to the Union at 4 p.m. until power returned, while Oak, Hart and Hancock were evacuated to the rec center at 4:30 p.m..

“The evacuation happened at a really bad time. People have been having trouble figuring out if they had to go to classes or not, and whether or not their homework for tomorrow had to be done,” first-year student and Penobscot resident Emily Roth said.

Students on the east side of campus including those in Somerset, Cumberland, Oxford, Knox, Androscoggin and Gannet halls, as well as other buildings located in the area, lost power for an hour starting at 3:30 p.m. This was a planned power loss so staff could try to repair the outages on the other side of campus and restore electricity.

“Our power came back mid-morning after being out for a little, but was soon out again due to it being shut off in order to try and restore power to the other parts of campus. The library was shut down and the only places to eat were at Hilltop Dining and Memorial Union, which made a lot of students worry and start to wonder when we would get power back,” first-year student and Cumberland resident Sapphire Hernandez said.  

DTAV and Patch, also located on the east side of campus, were two of the buildings that had power and then lost it again as the campus tried to restore it to the west side. They had heard rumors that their building was the next to be evacuated if the power did not return, but it came back on around 4:45 p.m.

“We were happy that it came back on before we were evacuated and we were happy to help anyone who didn’t have power,” fourth-year student and DTAV resident Marie Ring said.

Around 5 p.m., campus sent out text alerts letting students know that the east side of campus had regained power and was stable, but no updates were given as to when the west side of campus would have power again.

“We thought the school was much more prepared for an emergency than it proved,” first-year student and Penobscot resident Megan Sinclair said. “My roommate and I were confused, and somewhat annoyed, when we found out we had to evacuate. We weren’t given much time to decide what to bring.”

Students and staff remained in the union and the rec center for much of the afternoon and evening, and many of the residents who couldn’t leave campus had pillows and blankets spread across the floor to sleep on. Dining hall staff and employees handed out water and snacks to the evacuated students. Some students tried to make the best of it, finding their own ways of creating fun. One student, fourth-year Edward Unger, started reverse trick-or-treating, walking around, dressed in a Halloween costume handing out candy to students at the rec center. Listening for updates and for more information, the Resident Assistants and the hundreds of students who had been evacuated waited for further instructions and news.

The most recent update came this morning in the form of a text alert from the university stating, “Power restored to res halls; some buildings still without power. Power fluctuations may occur. All asked to conserve energy.” This text came at 10:26 a.m. and all further updates can be found at umaine.edu.

This story is still developing.

On Thursday, Oct. 12, dozens of high school students gathered at the University of Maine to take place in the celebration of World Languages Day. Located in various buildings around campus, the fourth annual event celebrated the importance of culture and language in our everyday lives.

With the hope to unite students together and bring awareness to the hundreds of language programs and centers around campus, the event was sponsored by the Foreign Language Association of Maine (FLAME), the Department of Modern Languages and Classics and multiple other on-campus organizations.

“I think it’s really important for students on campus to explore all the possibilities that learning a new language brings. As a student who speaks French and English, as well as a little bit of German, I think being multilingual is something to be proud of and celebrate,” Delanie Jones, a first-year student at UMaine, said. “This event is a great way to introduce students to other cultures and languages.”

These students who attended are enrolled in language courses in their schools and took part in poetry writing and reading, dancing, language-related games and many other activities throughout the day.

“Walking past the high school students in Little Hall, I was happy to see just how many people the event brought to our campus. As someone who speaks Spanish and Italian, as well as English, it made me so happy to watch high school students and our faculty here on campus come together and unite over this day,” Toni Tello, a first-year student at UMaine, said.

The students who attended the event were able to get to know other peers who shared the same interests, and meet students from other high schools who are enrolled in the same kinds of language courses. They had the ability to meet and talk face to face, practice their language-speaking skills in conversation with other peers and faculty, and became more familiar with all of the language programs that UMaine has to offer. The students read inspiring poems in different languages, bonded over shared cultural interests, traditions and even paired up to learn a few new moves during cultural dance lessons.

“I can’t wait to be apart of the event next year and get involved with these amazing programs and organizations. Being able to learn and appreciate other languages and cultures is a big part of who we are as an American community, and as a community on campus,” Tello said. “I think everyone should try to learn a new language and expand their knowledge of other cultures. Even using simple and fun phone apps like Duolingo or Babbel could improve your ability to retain and learn a language more fluently.”

The goal of the World Languages Day was to bring students together who have common interests while opening their eyes up to the importance of learning about other countries, their cultures and native languages.

To kick off the start of a new school year, the University of Maine’s Career Center held its second annual CareerFest. Starting on Tuesday, Sept. 12, the event brought a new approach to the dreaded phrase every college student will one day have to hear — job search.

Created as a three-day event, the fair was filled with presentations, interviews, roundtable discussions, Q&As and chances to meet with career counselors. CareerFest is meant to help ease students’ anxieties about finding a job after college and to make the process a little less stressful.

“Walking into the fair, I was a little bit overwhelmed,” Claire Klaus said. “But once I became comfortable and met some of the hundreds of friendly people who offered their help and advice, I realized just how amazing the event was, and how important these skills are that people can learn here. It was a great experience and I plan on coming to the fair every year it is held.”

Having planned and organized the event since early April, career consultant Samantha Wheeler, Director Crisanne Blackie, as well as many other staff members at the Career Center, took part in the setup and organization. They took time to make sure the event would be appealing to students and had enough resources to make it beneficial.  

“There was so much to do at the event. There were so many meetings and presentations, you could always find something that interests you and can help you,” Klaus said.

Along with other, more formal, career fairs held in October and February, CareerFest was created by the career center to be an educational experience that could connect students to resources not usually available to them. With tents, banners and balloons, CareerFest was not something you could easily walk by without noticing.

“We tried to get around six employers to be at the fair to provide industry advice, resume reviews, and other things related to their field,” Career Consultant Wheeler said. “We get different companies to attend, many located around campus. They help us bring these resources to students.”

While the staff discussed how the fair could be improved, and also reviewed and evaluated feedback from last year’s career-readiness events, the Career Center started revamping their events to appeal to the everyday student. To introduce provide support for students, they kicked off their first annual CareerFest that took place last September.

“What’s different from last year’s CareerFest is the addition of roundtable discussions. They are quick 30-minute discussions about networking, internships, job applications and more. They give students snippets of information they can take with them into their career field. Students can win free food, t-shirts, gas gift cards, and things similar to last year that added an exciting and laid back feel to the event,” Wheeler said.

The Career Center aimed to help make the process less overwhelming, making it more casual than the formal career fairs. They also wanted to give students the chance to see friendly faces who are more than happy to help them on their journey.

“I think it is so important for students in college to be prepared for these kinds of things [interviews, applications, etc.] that come with life after college,” Wheeler said. “It is a much more satisfying journey for the students who start this process earlier rather than later, and they will have all the time they need to tweak their resume and make the changes that will make them stand out from the rest when applying to jobs.”

By introducing college students to this information early on, the Career Center hoped that the connections and interactions made during the events will make lasting impressions on students, and on their futures.

The fair was an action-packed, eventful three days that provided much needed insight, advice and lessons to those who wanted to start their job searching journey.

The Career Center is open during the week for questions, walk-in appointments and event suggestions. Appointments can be scheduled at the front desk on the third floor of the Memorial Union or by calling 207-581-1359. To contact Wheeler email her at samantha.wheeler1@maine.edu.

A passion for music is something that can’t be taught. In the case of four college students who decided to form a band, sifting and weaving their way through the music world is their chance to share this passion with others.

“We all have something that we love to do outside of school and the band, those things set us apart and make us who we are. At the end of the day though, our common interest in music brings us together,” Brad Bell, guitarist, said.

Xavier Edwards, Bell, Sam Hiller and Benny Barto have been devoting their hearts to music ever since forming an unnamed heavy metal band in February 2016.

“I had played in a couple of bands in early high school, and was hoping to join one when I got to college, so I jumped at the chance,” Hiller, guitarist, said.

A Facebook announcement that was looking for musicians to start a music group brought the members together. Each of them added their own talent and spin on heavy metal music to the table.

“We decided on metal music because it seems to be the most interesting for us to play. Just about any group of kids can pick up an acoustic guitar and start an indie group,” Edwards, vocalist, said.

The musicians came to Maine from all different backgrounds, each member bringing something from home to the group. When applying to the University of Maine from Ledyard, Conn., Hermon, Maine, Burlington, Vt. and Avon, Conn., the musicians couldn’t imagine that they would become friends, classmates or better yet, bandmates.

Learning to balance schoolwork with their passion for music, each member of the band has learned to find his own rhythm.

“School comes first. We do the band if we can, which we can most of the time, but we struggle to find places to practice, which is a big barrier for us. We are always on the lookout for new chances and opportunities to share our music, and we love when people reach out with venue options, places to practice, and feedback that can only help the group,” Barto, percussionist, said. “I personally never stop listening, singing, or playing music in some way, even if we aren’t practicing that day.”

First and second-year UMaine students Edwards, Bell, Hiller, and Barto have their own interests that make them unique. This includes BMX (bicycle motocross) riding, making jewelry and working on cars and machinery, as well as devoting hours of their day to listening, reading and thinking about music.

Still searching for that perfect name, the band has been seeking inspiration from their role models.

“The name is going to come to us soon enough, we just can’t force it,” Hiller said.

With inspiration from heavy metal music icons like Guns N’ Roses, Lamb of God, Slipknot, Korn, and Shinedown, the band creates their own style and sound, while remaining in the heavy metal genre.

With a mindset to spread their music around the campus and the surrounding Orono and Bangor areas, the band is open to any support and friendly faces to help them on their journey. With each day, their hopes for the future get bigger and their excitement grows stronger.