A busy time being Upward Bound

By Brittnay Iafrate
FARMINGTON – Besides our core studies, after-class activities have kept us busy in the Upward Bound Program held here at the University of Maine at Farmington. An arts night included pottery, make-your-own superhero and martial arts; special interest activities included pillow making, vinegar-and-baking-soda bottle rocket building, sailing, ultimate Frisbee, many others.

Last Thursday we made the annual trip to the Sunbeam Roller Rink in Smithfield- it’s something I look forward to every year. Fifty kids skating around in a big circle, listening to loud music, and having a good time is a pretty good memory to have for the past four years.

In class, we took a condensed peace studies course for the past three weeks, learned how to write a five-page paper and how to take the criticism that goes along with having to rewrite that paper again and again.

Here it is, the start of week four here at Upward Bound, and there are only two more to go after this one. Our neighbors, the Jazz campers, arrived at Mallett Hall and stay here for two weeks.  The Maine Jazz Camp seems to be almost like a shortened version of Upward Bound, except instead of educational classes and work, the Jazz campers focus on their music. They attend private lessons, clinics and faculty performances at night – getting as much jazz as they want. They eat meals on campus at the same time as the Upward Bound students and have scheduled activities focused on their programs like we do.

It is nice to see other kids walking around campus, using the fitness center and playing pick-up sports wherever they can. Sometimes at night we can hear the students’ jam sessions from their porch, and it is a nice break from the noises of the traffic going by. I appreciate their music from my dorm room across the street.

I hope that I will be able to go to at least one of their concerts and actually listen to the Jazz campers play music instead of just hearing snippets as I walk by.

Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories Upward Bound student Brittany Iafrate is writing for DailyBulldog.com.