Thornton Academy senior, Jacqueline Cone-Ausiender, won first place. Other winners from Thornton Academy include third place winners, Devon Bovill and Fletcher Ramsey, and honorable mention winner, Bethany Towne.

Biddeford High School senior, Colby Averill, was an honorable mention winner in The Arrive Alive Creative Contest, which is open to graduating seniors from local high schools in Maine. Students may enter the contest by submitting a creative project, including essays, poems, videos, posters and paintings. First place winners receive a laptop, while second and third place winners receive iPods. 

Stonehill College recently named Saco resident Rebecca M. Leach, a member of the class of 2011, to its dean’s list for the spring 2009 semester.

The spring semester dean’s list at Bryant University includes the following area residents:  Michelle Gagnon, of Biddeford, a senior in applied psychology; Jason Scott, of Saco, a sophomore in actuarial mathematics and Zachary Sullivan, of Saco, a sophomore in accounting. 

Merrimack College conferred 505 degrees at the 59th commencement exercise held Sunday, May 17. The following local students were among the graduates: Ryan Perreault, B.S., and Michael Porrier, B.A. Summa Cum Laude, both of Biddeford.

Christopher C. Gagne of Biddeford recently graduated from Stonehill College with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Drew University student Arielle Sorenson of Biddeford has been named to the dean’s list for the spring 2009 semester. In order to qualify for the dean’s list, students must earn a grade point average of 3.4 or above, which is equivalent to a B+ or better.

Army National Guard Pvt. Shawn M. Gagnon, a 1998 graduate of Biddeford High School, has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

During the nine weeks of training, the soldier studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness, and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches, and field training exercises.

Troy Wilcox, UNE marine biology major, 2011, has received the 2009 Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

A Washburn native, Wilcox chose marine biology because of his love for the ocean and all living creatures within it.  He has always enjoyed fishing and hopes to make a difference by protecting the ecosystems within the ocean to insure future generations will have these same resources available to them. Wilcox worked for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries for the past two summers as a brook trout survey technician and is currently working for the Maine Department of Marine Resources studying alewives and Atlantic salmon.

Wilcox’s appointment began this May with a one-week orientation program at NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. During the orientation, he met the NOAA administrator, senior program managers, and scientists from NOAA’s organizations.  

Jonathan M. Girard, of Old Orchard Beach, has been named to the dean’s list at Boston University for the spring  semester.