2012 was a very good year for the partnership between the Penobscot Job Corps Academy and the Bangor Chapter of the American Red Cross. Six blood drives were held on the PJCA campus and the goal for the year was 322 units. Becky MacManus, Donor Recruitment Representative for Bangor reported that during the year 489 staff and students were presenting donors, with a total of 369 units of blood collected.100 of these were first time donors. Becky states “We are so grateful for the partnership with Job Corps.  We work with some wonderful students and staff who make these drives happen! You guys rock”!

11/21/12. A long standing tradition continued at the Penobscot Job Corps Academy today as staff served students a traditional Thanksgiving meal during both lunches. Early Christmas carols could be heard on the serving line as staff served up roasted turkey & stuffing, prime rib, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, squash, sweet potatoes, warm rolls and salad. PJCA staff scurried about the dining commons delivering refreshments (holiday punch and apple cider) and desserts (pumpkin, pecan, and apple pie) to a very appreciative group of young people.

The week of October 22, 2012,180 students and 20 staff members of the Penobscot Job Corps Academy participated in community service projects throughout Eastern Maine in conjuction with America’s largest day of service, Make A Difference Day (Saturday, October 27, 2012). Continuing a long standing tradition the PJCA joined with old and new community partners to Make A Difference in a wide variety of activities. On Thursday October 25,  PJCA was 69 strong in a group of approximately 350 who marched in downtown Bangor in the 1^st annual Walk to End Domestic Abuse sponsored by long standing community partner Spruce Run. The young people were very enthusiastic and much appreciated by all in attendance. Other activities during the week included helping with Halloween decoration projects for Bangor Parks & Recreation and the Friends of Fort Knox in Bucksport, repairing trails at Cascade Park for the City of Bangor, mulching trails and bridge repair for Orono Parks & Recreation, preparing meals at the Bangor Area Shelter and Manna Ministries, loading trucks at the Good Sheppard Food Bank in Brewer and finally doing grounds maintenance at the main office of Spruce Run.

Penobscot Job Corps Academy Math and Reading instructor Tim Drown has multiple sclerosis. This past Saturday, September 29^th, ten PJCA students, teaching colleague Emily Cyr,  Tim’s wife and daughter’s joined together in support as members of “Team Drown!” The 5K walk, held in Brewer, Maine, was sponsored by the Greater New England chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Team Drown walked, cheered,  helped set up and clean up for the event. The PJCA students  raised $160.00 for this endeavor and despite the cold and rainy conditions a wonderful time was had by all. Mr. Drown use your cane!

On Sunday September 16, 2012, 42 members of the Penobscot Job Corps Academy community raced, walked and cheered as part of a group of 4,500 who participated in the 16th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on the Bangor, Maine waterfront. Top finisher for PJCA was student Ben Sinclair who placed 22nd out of 743 runners! The PJCA and their community partner Eastern Maine Development Corporation sponsored a ZUMBA fundraiser in the PJCA gym earlier in September that raised $640. Those funds combined with a PJCA student government donation, as well as, an EMDC donation raised a total of $940 for the Race for the Cure!

Hi, my name is Emily Watson and I am a Home Builders Institute (HBI) student. On the date of August 14th 2012, our instructor, Mark Martin assigned HBI a task for the American Folk Festival (AFF) that is held in Bangor, Maine the weekend of August 24-26, 2012. He told us that we were going to build a floor for the VIP tent for the AFF.  He had already ordered the supplies and we started on the floor the next day.  We had fifteen sheets of ¾” ply wood 68, 1X3′s, 10 lbs of 1-14” screws and 15 gallons of polyurethane.  

The first thing we did was plan out how we were going to make the framing on the bottom.  We made it so that the plywood sheets fit together like a lapped joint, so that the sheets could be screwed together when assembled. We made the top, sides, and bottom flush.  We also put five pieces of bracing in between the perimeter pieces.   We did this on all 15 sheets.  About a week later, we brought them outside to polyurethane them.  We put three coats of poly on each piece.  We let them dry for three days and then laid out tarps and began putting them together.  After some minor adjustments, they fit together perfectly.  We finished putting them together and numbered them so we knew which piece went where when the time would come to assemble them again.  After that we numbered them and piled them up in order. On Friday August 24^th, we loaded the plywood onto a truck and Mr. Martin took six HBI students with him to the AFF. We then set up the floor within the VIP tent.  It took about 20 minutes to set it up.  Then we grabbed a couple of screw guns and began screwing the pieces of plywood together.   Carin Sychterz, Developmental Coordinator of the AFF told Mr. Martin that we did a wonderful job and it looked beautiful.  I had fun doing this project and I hope we have more opportunities like this.

On Thursday, August 16, 2012 the Penobscot Job Corps Academy (PJCA) held its fourth blood drive of the year at the PJCA campus. Rebecca MacManus of the American Red Cross Blood Services reported that there were 84 presenting donors, which resulted in 63 units of blood and 17 of the donors were first time givers! This brings the PJCA year to date total: 336 presenting donors / 245 units of blood collected and 40 first time donors! GREAT Job Penobscot!!

8/6/12  Fourteen welders from the Penobscot Job Corps Academy (PJCA)  passed their theatrical debut  at the Penobscot Theatre (PT) in Bangor this past Monday. In 73 minutes over 100 old theatre seats were disassembled and brought down from the balcony to an outside staging area to be recycled. The PT is reorganizing their storage areas and reached out to the PJCA for assistance. The Welding shop , under the leadership of welding instructor Mike Collins, jumped at the opportunity to lend a hand. PT Board member Mary Budd stated  “The theatre’s leadership team was blown away by the work of the Penobscot Job Corps on Monday. Magnus (Marketing Coordinator) and I found the students to be without exception efficient, diligent, and respectful—a real tribute to  the quality of the  program.” The students were served pizza and soda for lunch and will be attending  a show at the PT this fall.