This Saturday, April 27th, Hirundo is offering a free "Meet a Scientist" event to celebrate Earth Day! This will be at Binette Park in Old Town from 10 AM - 1 PM.
Join Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in celebrating Earth Day at Binette Park in Old Town!
Meet scientists from around Maine, who will showcase some of the equipment they use and what projects they are working on right now!
Peer through lenses and activate your brain by asking questions and discovering more about the world around you. Tables will be stationed around the park featuring topics ranging from golden eagles and bird banding, to DNA extraction, to archaeology! Meet A Scientist will be your one-stop shop to learn about all the local science being conducted.
Learn the basics of what scientists do and how you can become a citizen scientist! This celebration of learning will be fun for everyone, so bring the whole family or come on your own.
Pick up a stamp card at the Hirundo table, visit at least 7 tables, and get a free nature-themed poster of your choice (first come first serve)!
Directions ~ Binette Park
434 Main Street, Old Town, ME 04468 (44.937288, -68.647140)
Located on Main Street in Old Town, along the Penobscot River, between Pepper's Landing and The Rock Church.
Congratulations to Vasia Markides, OTHS "Staff of the Month" for the month of March!
Vasia is passionate about what she teaches and does her best to make sure students feel the same by being an amazing teacher. Vasia is an Old Town High School graduate, class of 1997.
She also does a tremendous job of displaying student work in our halls!
Thank You Vasia for all that you do for our school and for our students!
Go Coyotes.
Our JROTC "Cadet of the Month" for the month of March is Ian Dutra.
Cadet Captain Ian Dutra consistently strives for excellence in both academic and extracurricular activities. Earning Highest Honors each quarter, Ian plans to pursue a degree in either Cybersecurity or Engineering. He is active on campus with the Golf, Robotics, and Math teams. Off campus he competes with the Black Bear Robotics and Cybersecurity teams. Ian is the S4 of the Coyote Battalion, responsible for ensuring the unit’s logistical needs are met. He has also been a member of the Raiders team. Most recently, Ian was the Captain of the Coyote Battalion’s Cybersecurity Team, leading them to the league championship and a fourth-place finish at the Second Brigade Championship.
Congratulations, Ian.
Go Coyotes.
The final results are in and our JROTC Cyber Security team garnered a 4th place finish in Pennsylvania. This is an AMAZING result considering this is our first ever competition. In addition, of the three teams that finished ahead of us, one was the host school in their seventh year of competing and another school is exclusively a computer science school.
Great Job Guys! We are Proud of You!
Go Coyotes.
2024 Old Town High School
Principal's Award Winner
Zoe Yerxa of Old Town, a senior at Old Town High School has been selected to receive the 2024 Principal's Award. The award, sponsored by the Maine Principals Association, is given in recognition of a high school senior's academic achievement, extra curricular participation, and school citizenship.
"Zoe is an outstanding student and is the Valedictorian for the class of 2024. She is a three-sport athlete, a member of our National Honor Society and a great young lady."
Zoe, Mr. Gordon and other award winners and their principals will attend an Honors Luncheon at Jeff’s Catering on Saturday, April 6, 2024 at 12:30 p.m.
The Honors Luncheon recognizes these outstanding students with the presentation of an individual plaque and the awarding of ten $1,000 scholarships in the names of former Maine principals and MPA Executive Directors: Horace O. McGowan, Richard W. Tyler, and Richard A. Durost.
The Principal's Award is presented in more than 100 Maine public and private high schools by member principals of the MPA.
Congratulations Zoe! We are Proud of You!
In 2010, the Memorial Garden at OTHS was opened as an Eagle Scout Project by Paul Nelson. In all, we have 15 students honored who have passed away during high school since 2000. The original location, while beautiful, is difficult to access and hard to maintain. The RSU34 Educational Foundation is looking to move the garden to be more accessible and easier to manage. We are looking to move this out back in the bus loop. If you are able to contribute or share, it would be much apprecaited. The link to the Ed Foundation is: https://www.rsu34.org/page/rsu-34-education-foundation and just note that it is for the Memorial Garden. Special thanks to the Educational Foundation for taking this on and Josh Curtis for sketching the vision.
RSU 34:: RSU 34 schools will be closed today--Thursday, March 21, 2024. We apologize for the change of course. Conditions are not improving in time for morning bus runs as we had anticipated when making the decision early this morning.
Another day, three more Capstone presentations completed by three amazing seniors. Shout out to Ben Dickey, Janelle Sanchez & Saige Evans!
Friday was "Debate Day" in Mrs. Turners Current Events class. The debate question was, should the State of Maine enact Red Flag Laws? Both teams did amazing. It was a well thought out, well argued debate.
Go Coyotes
Cadets of the Coyote Battalion presented the Colors at Friday night’s UMaine hockey game. Kevin Murray commanded the Color Guard and was joined by Kylee Murray, Jesse Bouchard, and Cameron Jones.
#CoyotePride
Tonight is the BIG NIGHT!
The MPA Drama Festival kicks off at Ellsworth High School with OT's performance of "Bearskin."
Break a Leg, OT!
Mrs. Walsh and Mrs. Bousquet recently learned about Best Buddies, a non-profit organization that creates opportunities for one-on-one friendships and decided to create an OTHS Chapter! With the help of Chapter President, Rhiannon B and Key Club, they held their first meeting yesterday. We are looking forward to seeing this club grow and create meaningful memories for all!
#CoyotePride
On Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Kelsi Hobbs, Professor of Economics at the University of Maine presented a seminar to students in the Diplomas of Extra Distinction Program. The students learned about the field of Economics and about Dr. Hobbs’ areas of research. To end the seminar, Dr. Hobbs had the students participate in a hands-on trading game to learn about the economic principle of trade.
#CoyotePride
The OTHS Student Council is holding its annual semi-formal dance THIS Saturday, March 2 from 7pm to 10pm. Tickets are on sale before school and at lunches this week: $18 for couples tickets and $10 for singles tickets. Get yours today!! (Also available at the door on Saturday, $10 per person).
RSU 34 and the OTO-YMCA partner on the River Runners program, one of the "beacons of hope" identified in this statewide Op-Ed that are proactively creating opportunities for youth. Making multiple positive niches for every child/youth is an important part of their development - some of those happen in school, and some out of school.
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/02/21/opinion/opinion-contributor/there-are-beacons-of-hope-amidst-maines-juvenile-justice-challenges/
River Runners is part of the Aspirations Incubator Program, of the Rural Futures Fund.
Saturday was a busy day for RSU #34's robotics teams! On one side of the river, the LMS robotics team competed in the FIRST Lego League Maine State competition. The team was excited that in their very first round they exceeded the best score they had all year the prior year. They competed several more times that day, building on that success and growth. Meanwhile, across the river the OTHS robotics teams competed in the VEX "February Finale", the last meet of the regular season. Three of the four OTHS teams had already qualified for the state championships going into that meet, and one of the four OTHS teams had already qualified for the CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Tournament.
In RSU #34, we undertook an initiative a decade ago, spearheaded by one of our community members and volunteer coaches, to integrate robotics and coding into the school day. Beginning with Bee Bots at our elementary schools, through WeDo, Spike Prime, NXT, Sphero, coding, app design, 3D design and printing, laser cutting and engraving - RSU #34 students have lots of opportunities to develop computational thinking and cutting-edge skills!
Along the same lines, we learned Friday that the OTHS JROTC Cyber Security team, league champions, is invited to compete in the 2nd JROTC Brigade competition in March. Congratulations, Cadets!
Reminder we are live in a couple of minutes for the Semester 1 Academic Breakfast
https://www.youtube.com/live/Ea_bT4X4EtQ?si=72C0DZ9kN3jAl7O9
Due to weather this afternoon and evening, all after school activities are canceled for OTHS.
OTHS Critter Search 2023. Each class had a cute critter to find hiding in different locations throughout the week. Not only was this a fun way for classes to compete against one another, but there was a second part as well, students were sent trivia questions about different winter holidays and festivals celebrated all over the world. A total of fifty different traditions from many different cultures were
learned about by our students this week. Go Coyotes!
OTHS Key Club wrapped up their school wide Reverse Advent Calendar Food Drive yesterday & delivered all of the food with Mrs. K Ketch to The Caring Community Cupboard. Thanks to all who donated!!
