ORONO, Maine (WABI) – Giving Maine high schoolers the funds, resources and community they need to go to college has been the aim of the Mitchell Institute for 3 decades.
On Saturday at the University of Maine, former Senator George Mitchell welcomed the 2025 Mitchell Scholars.
“A Mitchell Scholar is a lot of things,” describes Casey Near, Mitchell Institute’s Scholarship Director, of the criteria. “One, they’re from every corner and community of Maine, so they represent incredibly diverse backgrounds, all the way from Washington County down to York. They are students who are academically full of promise, full of potential. We look for community impact within their communities within their family networks, and we look for financial need.”
Beginning in 1995 after visiting every high school in Maine, Sen. Mitchell created the institute to share the support he received to reach higher education.
“My parents had no education and little income, my father was out of work at that time, and so my prospects were going to college was very slim. But two or three local people, community leaders, helped me out and I ended up going to and graduating from Bowdoin,” Mitchell explained to the new cohort and their families in attendance Saturday. “I, who had been so fortunate to have been helped by so many people, I felt an obligation to try and to do the same for others.”
While the $10,000 scholarship students are awarded helps ease the financial burden of college, the Mitchell Institute also provides community resources that make the college transition easier for students who may not have any background.
Twenty of the 200 students selected are Bonney Promise Scholars, representing those who have overcome significant hurdles in the pursuit of education.
This group stayed overnight at UMaine for two nights before Saturday, completing team building challenges, meeting peers and prepping for college.
From Dexter, Taylor Michaud says the outing allowed her to step out of her comfort zone by talking to fellow Bonney Scholars: “There’s a lot of people that don’t really talk about their situations and it just feels good that all of us kind of did. That’s why we’re here.”
For Poland Regional High School graduate Terralyn Magofna, it was easy to connect with those coming from similar backgrounds of overcoming adversity.
“It feels so rewarding because after all the things I’ve been through, you know, it’s easy to feel like hopeless,” Magofna says of the scholarship. “The support that I’m getting, not even just the money, from it, is so important. I know that I have a future.”
Near says the 200 that make up the 2025 cohort is the largest the Mitchell Institute has seen yet.
Over the last 30 years, the organization has awarded over $25M to Maine high schoolers.
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