In the past, the typical Maine Outing Club’s (MOC) boating experience consisted of underwear and a bicycle helmet, sitting on top of a kayak with goosebumps from head to toe. But now, the MOC may have access to kayaks, shirts, paddles, helmets, personal floatation devices (PFDs) wetsuits and more, making the kayaking trips a little more comfortable.

On April 5, MOC announced the news on their Facebook page that they had received more funding from student government. With the river’s ice finally broken up, the news comes just in time for this year’s white water season. MOC will use the money to rent the gear from Maine Bound Adventure Center. Not only will they be able to accommodate more people, the thermal gear and wetsuits should extend the seasons.

“Thanks to our benevolent benefactors (student government) MOC has funds to rent out Whitewater Kayaks / Cold Water Gear for spring trips! Check here for updates on kayaking / sit-on-top / canoe / rafting trips on the Penobscot River right in town!”

MOC followed up with a comment on the post announcing that kayaking trips on the Penobscot will be held Monday through Wednesday. The rapids just below the Stillwater-Penobscot conflux are perfect for beginners because they are fairly small and not too intimidating.

The announcement came after a winter of heavy snowfall that has mostly ended the drought that left rivers and lakes several feet lower than normal, dried up wells, harmed fish populations and threatened the livelihood of paddle sport rental businesses on smaller rivers such as the Androscoggin.

Tom Gordon, a member of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry told the Portland Press Herald “snowstorms are adding moisture to the ground. We still have some dry areas along the New Hampshire border, but the situation is much improved.”

The Penobscot River doesn’t have this problem according to visitmaine.com’s whitewater page. “The season on the Penobscot and Kennebec begins in late April and ends in mid-October. Controlled daily dam releases from hydropower dams on these rivers guarantee water levels throughout the season, even during the driest summers.”

The Penobscot has some of the best white water in Maine, especially the West Branch which runs through Baxter State Park and offers class five rapids.

Students can join MOC for $20, which gives them access to any MOC equipment. For an additional $20, students gain access to the MOC cabin near sugarloaf. MOC has camping gear, cross country skis, snowshoes and more, offering students the opportunity for memorable outdoor experiences. Like the MOC Facebook page for updates and events.

Over spring break, five members of the UMaine photography club spent three days visiting New York City. The students stayed in Spanish Harlem and took photos at iconic spots such as the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Jesse MacDonald, president of the UMaine Photography club, explained that they choose New York for its unique atmosphere. “It was gonna be a nice change of pace, from Maine…we can’t photograph a big city skyline in Maine,” MacDonald said.

For Alison Berube, New York offered an opportunity to broaden her horizons. “For me, it wasn’t just photography…I’ve been in Maine most of my life. Having the experience of the city of New York was really interesting, and gave perspective on things I’ve never even realized before.”

The trip provided the five students with the opportunity to focus on photography with a group of like-minded peers while still enjoying their vacation. “It’s cool to be out there with other people with cameras because if you go out there and bring you camera with all your friends who aren’t into photography…everyone else is gonna be trying to get you to rush, but we could really take our time and set up the shots, compare, work at our own pace,” MacDonald said.

On their last day at Brooklyn Bridge Park, the photography club met Louis Mendes, a famous photographer who wanders the streets of New York photographing people and gives most of those photos away to the subjects. “It was really cool, he’s been doing it for 40-50 years now and he was super down to earth, he was really interested in why we were there,” MacDonald said.

The photography club is a great way for photographers to gain experience shooting at different events. “The clubs got a little more exposure this year, so we’ve actually had a decent amount of people come to us and ask if we’d be willing to spare a photographer for an event or club photo,” MacDonald said.

This year the club has sent photographers to work with the American Marketing Association, the figure skating club, the Best Buddies prom and the dance marathon this weekend. They have also photographed club hockey meetings. “We’ve had a lot more people come to us before going out to hire a professional which has been great for them and awesome for us, giving our photographers a chance to do some events,” Macdonald said.

The UMaine Photography Club will have one more meeting this semester, at which elections for a full executive board which will allow them to apply for federal funding from student government. Next semester the club will only be meeting once a month and will focus more on weekend outings.

This week, the two finalists for the position of Vice President for Human Resources gave presentations on “The Role of Strategic Human Resources in the Life of Today’s Institution of Higher Education” to an audience of UMaine faculty and staff.

Joe Eulberg’s presentation on “The Role of Strategic Human Resources in the Life of Today’s Institution of Higher Education” titled “The University of Maine/U.S. Public Universities. The Rules Will Keep Changing: Who Wants To Play/Who Wants to Win?” was held March 28 in the Bangor Room.

Eulberg said he is attracted to UMaine’s “thirst for change” stating that public universities are the “key to driving economic growth and social mobility.” He stressed the importance of being flexible in the way UMaine delivers its product so it may be delivered to a wider market.

Eulberg studied Psychology at Texas A&M University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1979 and master’s degree 1983. While working on his doctorate in Organizational Behavior at Naveen Jindal School of Management, UT Davis, Eulberg began his professional career with an internship at Hay Management Consultants. He spent most of his professional career at Accor (eight years) and Bob Evans Farms (seven years).

Eulberg has worked in human resources for over 25 years and led companies through transitional periods similar to the current One University initiative. Eulberg mentioned his involvement in an initiative at Bob Evans Farms, in which they assigned eight-person teams to each one of their five main goals.

He then went on to work as a Director of Training/Compensation and Benefits at Pier 1 Imports, an organizational development consultant for Anheuser-Busch (1991-1992), a senior vice president of human resources at Accor North America (1992-2000), vice president of human resources at 7-Eleven (2000-2003), senior vice president of human resources at Nash Finch (2003-2006), executive vice president of human resources at Acosta Sales and Management (Feb. 2007-Aug. 2007) and the executive vice president of human resources at Bob Evans Farms (2008-2015).

Eulberg was a leader during the project to build an updated headquarters for Bob Evans Farm. The new headquarters, which cost roughly $46.5 million, was a response to the aging headquarters near Columbus Ohio according to Eulberg. Eulberg told the Columbus dispatch that “We spent millions of dollars trying to fix that campus after years of neglect. We can spend another $30 million, $40 million there, and it still wouldn’t be right.”

The building and two manufacturing plants was eventually sold and leased back to Bob Evans Farms after a difficult third quarter, stocks dropped 22 percent, the company sold 17 restaurants and Eulberg was laid off. The proceeds of the building sales were used to initiate stock buybacks.

Chris Lindstrom gave his presentation on March 30. Lindstrom has worked as a human resources executive for over 30 years. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in human resources management from Millikin University, he started as a human resources representative for  Honeywell International Inc. Honeywell invents and manufactures aerospace technologies, home and building solutions, security systems and personal safety products.

Over the next seventeen years, Lindstrom filled human resources positions at Honeywell plants in Illinois, North Carolina, Minnesota, Hong Kong and Singapore. Lindstrom managed the closure of Honeywell’s regional headquarters in Hong Kong and the startup of the new headquarters in Singapore.

After leaving Honeywell, Lindstrom went on to Anderson Windows as a director of corporate HR services. From 2012-2016 he worked as a vice president of human resources for Insitu, where he was tasked with talent acquisition, including one process at Insitu that brought in over 250 people in 15 months.

Lindstrom’s presentation of “The Role of Strategic Human Resources in the Life of Today’s Institution of Higher Education” began with a brief summary of his professional history. He then explained the reasons he was interested in UMaine, including the university’s rich history and the opportunity to engage in “lifelong learning.”

According to Lindstrom’s presentation, the biggest challenges to higher education are funding, the costs of maintaining a relevant infrastructure and administrative cost efficiency. He believes UMaine’s mission should focus on increasing funding from private sources and increasing UMaine’s “geographical impact.”

In reaching these goals, Lindstrom said HR’s role should be culture control, leadership assessment, talent acquisition and goal alignment. He also stressed the importance of flexibility in job design, individual development and career planning, workforce diversity and “collaboration with industry peers.”

Lindstrom then cited past examples of when these strategies had helped him meet financial goals at Insitu and collaborative goals at Andersen Windows. Several times, Lindstrom was tasked with the integration of acquisitions, as well as the integration of plants.

The final contestants for the annual UMaine Business Challenge were announced last week. Three teams from UMaine, one from College of the Atlantic (COA) and one from Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) will be competing for up to $20,000 dollars and support through goods and services.

Students had from Dec. 16 to March 1 to enter the competition. On April 29, competitors will pitch their business plans to a panel of judges. First place receives $5,000, second place wins $1,000, the technology prize winner will receive $5,000 dollars and have the opportunity to receive additional $5,000, if the team meets development milestones in the six months after the competition.

The Finalists include:

UMaine graduate student Bradley Shepherd, with his video game company Boreal Games;

UMaine senior Benjamin Koehler and the Comfort Appliance team, who are developing a heating appliance to increase the efficiency of woodstoves;

COA student Anita Van Dam, who is the co-founder of [Re]produce, a sustainable produce processing company;

UMaine students Ian Shea and Paul Kurnick, who have created a product that combines lip balm with a lighter;

And SMCC student Michael D. Parks, who is the founder of Dionysus Management LLC, which is launching the Maine Beer Festival and the Maine Wine Festival.

Benjamin Koehler of the Comfort Appliance team is working with three other students: William Bauld, Justin McDermott and David Kelly. The team is developing a unit which would use heat from a wood stove to heat up wax, storing the heat in its liquid state. The unit can then be moved to another room, where the wax releases the heat as it changes back to a solid state. “It’s pretty cool getting to present my engineering and explore entrepreneur stuff,” Koehler said.

The UMaine Business Challenge was founded in 2011 by four members of the UMaine Class of 2010. The founders contributed their own money for the first competition’s prize.

The 2013 challenge expanded to include University of Southern Maine (USM) students. Tom Myers, a USM mechanical engineering student won the competition for his company ABC Firewood.

The challenge expanded to all colleges in Maine after the second year.

The first UMaine Business Challenge was held on April 21, 2012. The first winners were Luke and Jake Thomas of AerialFly. AerialFly is an aerial photography and videography company that uses drones to access scenic vantage points.

Over the years, the winners of the UMaine Business Challenge have brought mobile food delivery services, remote-controlled submersibles, excavation companies and more.

One notable success story is the 2015 winners, UMaine Ph.D. student Nadir Yildirim, an assistant research professor of sustainable bioproducts and Alexander Chasse, a 2013 civil engineering graduate.

Yildirim and Chasse’s project was Revolution Research INC., an Orono based company, which develops eco-friendly bioproducts for a number of different applications such as construction supplies. RRI has received grants from The National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency and the Maine Technology Institute.

In a letter on the UMaine Business Challenge website, the founders said “The UBC wants to continually be increasing its role in developing the state’s economy, while giving back to the University of Maine…we have found student entrepreneurs who are willing to risk their time and talents to build sustainable businesses for our state.”

On Wednesday, March 22, in the Foster Center for Student innovation James Beaupre and Jason Bolton held a lecture and answered questions about brewing. They shared knowledge of both facilities and the business planning necessary to be successful, citing examples of the successful breweries popping up in Maine.

Brewing in Maine added $228 million to the state’s economy and increased over sixfold in the last decade. Breweries from Maine have been reported on by media outlets such as the Boston Globe, NPR and the Los Angeles Times. Portland, Maine is considered by many to be one of the best cities in the country for beer.

Initial costs of starting a brewery are in the ballpark of about $140,000 and up, according to the lecture, so it is often necessary to involve investors. On top of financing the startup, one must account for the costs of distribution, transportation, building utilities and ingredients. To cut down on some of these costs, Bolton and Beaupre agreed that it is important to have a significant local customer base: the profit margin is higher when beer can go from storage straight to the taps.

There are three different licenses a brewery must have — and four if they want a tasting room: Federal and local Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau (TTB) licenses, a commercial food license and a serving license.

One brewery mentioned was the Marsh Island Brewery, which began operation in 2015 — and opened a tasting room just over a year later. The tasting room allowed them to further tap into the local customer base.

Bolton and Beaupre suggested new brewers account for the time the aging process takes once the beer is in barrels. Beers age for differing time periods, so one might want to try to create a popular brew that does not store for as long to avoid having a “building that’s full of booze and you can’t sell it until it tastes right,” Bolton explained.

Bolton and Beaupre used Allagash White, a belgian style wheat and Allagash Brewing’s first beer, as an example of Allagash Brewing Company’s success at the lecture. With nine awards — and generating most of the sales — White pulls much of the company’s weight in profits.

Consistent quality control was a major talking point in the lecture. Without consistency, a characteristic that many breweries have difficulty with, small drifts in flavors may go unnoticed. Quality control entails expensive equipment that is constantly evolving along with all brewing infrastructure. Quality control is likely to become more of an issue for startup breweries, because breweries will be held to the same standard as food manufacturers.

Following trends within a market is important. According to Bolton and Beaupre, many millennials enjoy IPAs because they usually consist of one big flavor, which appeals to our simpler pallet. They also promoted the importance of fostering a healthy brewing scene through collaboration with other local brewers.

Beaupre is UMaine’s Innovation engineer and is currently working for the Center for Student Innovation. Beaupre is a patented inventor of papermaking technology, and has a BS in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maine.

Bolton is a food safety specialist for the UMaine cooperative extension, helping food producers ensure safety regulations are implemented. Bolton also works through the University of Maine School of Food and Agriculture, where he teaches brewing science.

UMaine Active Minds hosted the Mental Health Monologues Thursday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. in DPC 100. The performance showcases stories from students describing their experiences with mental health and illness.

The Monologues are multi-genre personal narratives. The goal of the event was to open up the conversation about mental health. Fourteen students spoke. Some stories described in detail the pain of an anxiety attack, or a bout of depression, or the volatile nature of bipolar disorder. Some speakers shared the perspective of having a loved one with a mental illness, others the struggles of substance abuse.

One in five adults have a mental illness and 60 percent of these adults went at least a year without seeking help. In 2015, 23 percent of adults aged 18-25 had a mental illness and eight percent had serious thoughts of suicide according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth; 90 percent of those youth had a mental illness according to the National Alliance on Mental Health.

The students who spoke at the monologues included studious academics, writers, scientists, musicians, spiritually devout and otherwise active citizens who share the common goal to provide the mentally ill with support. Mental Health Monologues have been held at the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin and others.

Active Minds is a nonprofit that started in University of Pennsylvania by Alison Malmon. Active Minds has 443 chapters at campuses worldwide. UMaine Active Minds seeks to connect students in need to resources that will help like the Counseling Center, Mind Spa and the Crisis Text Line.

The website’s version of the mission statement is, “Active Minds aims to remove the stigma that surrounds mental health issues, and create a comfortable environment for an open conversation about mental health issues.” Anyone can meet the members of Active Minds, watch them joking around about their weekend plans, organizing a 100-plus person event and sitting cross legged rehearsing their monologues to each other before the show. The support is incredible.

UMaine senior and Active Minds member Justine Bouthot read UMaine Active Minds founder Angela Gilbert’s story. Bouthot was diagnosed with Lyme disease in August, but doctors suspect she has been sick since she was 13. She began noticing feelings of depression and anxiety, a possible symptom of Lyme at that age.

“It’s definitely overwhelming to deal with your physical health and your mental health together… [Active Minds has] just given me such incredible life skills and people skills and personal skills…it’s equipped me so well to be able to deal with this illness,” Bouthot said. She was recently featured in a photo-essay, displaying how proactively she has taken on day-to-day life with illness.

In the past, the UMaine chapter has sponsored such events as the Out of the Darkness Walk, the Improvisational Insanity Show and the National Day Without Stigma. The Send Silence Packing Tour visited in spring 2015 on April 2. The tour displays backpacks representing those lost to suicide, which claims over 1,000 college students a year, according to the chapter’s website. Active Minds’ meetings are every Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Senior Skulls Room on the third floor of the Memorial Union.

Governor Paul LePage said on Tuesday, Feb. 14 that he is considering appointing James C. LaBrecque as Commissioner of the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC). MPUC Commissioner Carlisle J. T. McLean’s position will be open when her term expires in March.

Solar energy advocates see it as continued suppression of renewable energy due to LaBrecque’s opposition to past solar projects.

The announcement came four days after LePage expressed criticism of the Maine Public Utilities Commission’s decision not to repeal a law requiring utility companies to pay solar energy users for the excess energy created by their solar panels. This practice is called net-metering and basically means that solar energy users may subtract the value of the energy they have created from their electric bill.

The value of the energy solar users create is up for some debate, prompting the commission to reduce the rates at which new solar energy users may be credited. Utility companies will continue to credit solar energy users who sign up before 2018 at the previous rate. The decision was made public on Jan. 31.

LePage and other critics of the net-metering practice call net-metering unfair, because solar energy creators are paid the same for their energy as the utility companies, but don’t have the burden of distribution and transmission costs associated with providing utility services.

In his State of the State Address, LePage condemned the MPUC for its action on the bill, claiming he would “fire all the commissioners, because what they did is unconscionable.” The governor’s office had previously suggested a three-year grandfather clause for solar energy users who signed up before Sept. 1, 2016.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission was created by the Maine Legislature to oversee the electric, natural gas, water and telephone services. MPUC has three full-time commissioners: Mark Vannoy, Bruce Williamson and McLean. LePage appointed all of the current commissioners.

In 2015, LePage faced allegations from Maine democrats of interfering with the commission’s proceedings after he sent a letter urging them to renegotiate contracts with wind energy companies. Harry Lanphear, a MPUC spokesperson, said the letter did not influence the commission’s decision to renegotiate the contracts.

The commision has the final say on net-metering. A law that requires utility companies to give agricultural businesses net-metering credits gives the MPUC the power to “adjust the amount disbursed to a customer under this section in order to offset the costs to the transmission and distribution utility to meet the requirements of this section.” On cases such as this, the MPUC operates like a court.

LaBrecque is a mechanical and electrical engineer. He has been a consultant and advisor to the University of Maine’s Mechanical Engineering program, an owner of Flexware Control Technology and one of LePage’s technical advisors. In the past LaBrecque has spoken out against the feasibility of wind energy projects, including UMaine’s offshore wind energy project.

LaBrecque’s opposition to the solar law hinges on limitations in the amount of sunlight Maine receives, the bankruptcy of several renewable energy companies and the failure of RE<C, Google’s 2011 renewable energy project. As part of RE<C, Google invested in Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS), a solar technology that uses mirrors to focus the sun’s energy into a single receiver that collects it. After retiring RE<C, Google said, “We’re facing new challenges related to our solar receiver design. At this point, other institutions seem better positioned than Google to take this work to the next level.”

Carlisle J. T. McLean was appointed to the MPUC in 2015 after working as LePage’s Chief Legal Counselor since 2013. She was the Senior Natural Resource Policy Advisor from 2011 to 2013. Before working as an advisor to the governor, she was an Associate Attorney at Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios legal firm.