What Three MDI Sport Stars Have Been Doing This Year
Spoiler: Making a difference
BAR HARBOR—This fall, three young adults who have grown up on Mount Desert Island decided to give something back.
To be fair, these aren’t ordinary high school seniors.
Bar Harbor’s Spencer Laurendeau and Tremont’s Josh Wedge led the MDI Trojans to the team’s first state championship. Laurendeau also plays basketball. Wedge wrestles. Tremont’s Grace Horner’s softball season ended all the way at the playoffs, with a seventh seed placement and a season full of hits before the team fell to the Crusaders.
They’re athletic. They’re team oriented. But it’s more than that. They’re appreciative and they are focused on making a difference for local kids.
The trio want to give back to local kids via Acadian Youth Sports, the organization that nurtured them when they were younger, the organization that gave them places to play and learn as they were growing up. Sports have shaped them. Now, they want to help AYS shape the kids coming up through the various programs, too.
“I want to help,” Horner said.
“Grace Horner, Josh Wedge, and Spencer Laurendeau are gifts to our school and community. They've given so much to our school through their positive efforts and as examples of continual growth. Each of them has done well in high school, and have thrived since enrolling at HCTC. I'm so proud of their efforts to give back and am touched that they chose AYS as their beneficiary,” said MDI High School Principal Matt Haney.
Since all three seniors study at the Hancock County Tech Center and are competing in the SkillsUSA program for hospitality and business, they decided to focus on a project filled with multiple programs all meant to raise money for Acadian Youth Sports.
“We all know and grew up through AYS,” Laurendeau said. “And it sparked the love for sports that we have now.”
And the respect.
“Without them, we wouldn’t have done anything,” Wedge said of the group’s achievements in sports and school.
Acadian Youth Sports is a non-profit sports organization for youths, whose mission is to provide “a safe, fun place for kids to learn.” The non-exclusion policy means that there are no cuts and everyone gets to play. It’s a feeder program for a lot of schools on MDI and the area. But more than that, it’s meant to get kids out, learn teamwork, learn confidence, and learn the skills that can help them be good people.
Horner, Laurendeau, and Wedge exemplify that. They hold doors open for strangers. They make kind conversation. They tease each other and their teacher. There’s a friendliness that exudes out of each of them. It’s more than that, though. They’re confident and they care about each other and their community.
“They’re pretty special kids,” Tara Hart Mason, the Business Leadership & Hospitality Instructor and co-SkillsUSA advisor said.
“They have all had successful athletic careers in high school which was only possible through the foundations they built as youth athletes. AYS is a tremendous organization which has impacted the lives of countless young people in our area,” said Haney.
Wedge said that they hope to raise enough to be able to buy an entire set of uniforms or provisions for an AYS team.
“We just want to help a whole team out,” he said.
“The board is thrilled to be the benefactor of this trio’s efforts! When I first met with them at HCTC a few months ago, I was amazed at their creativity and their ambition. It always warms my heart to watch the kids give back to kids. So impressive!” said Tony McKim, chairman of the AYS board.
The three were also enthusiastic about Hancock County Technical center and their SkillsUSA teachers, Hart Mason and Meghan Stubbs, who is also an early childhood instructor. Stubbs just won the Milken Educator Award, which the HCTC website explains as an award “for their already impressive achievements and, more significantly, for the promise of what they will accomplish in the future. Along with the award, Meghan will work with the other Milken Award winners in Maine and nationally to advocate for education, including a conference in Los Angeles in the spring of 2024. Meghan also received a $25,000 check to be used for her program at HCTC.”
That wasn’t mentioned as she tried to fix an ancient 3D printer and the students joked around. She teased them. They teased back. Everyone smiled.
“We’re pretty close around here,” Hart Mason said.
Wedge and Laurendeau knew coming in as juniors that they wanted to focus on business and hospitality. Laurendeau already talks about going into that industry when he graduates college.
Wedge feels similarly. “I feel like business and hospitality are skills that you can use no matter what you end up doing as a career,” he said.
For Horner, it was a bit more of a process and choice, and one that began with the charisma and kindness of Hart Mason.
“Mrs. Mason seemed the most inviting,” she said. She added later that the teacher listens to all their problems.
“I love these kids and what I do because the kids are so passionate about why they are here and that just helps make my job so rewarding,” Hart Mason said.
You can see that love as they discussed the plans for Sunday, what they’ve already accomplished, and what they plan to do.
Wedge said, “I love it here. I would be here all day if I could. All the teachers are wonderful.”
The students spend their mornings at MDI High School and then finish their days at the technical center. The half-day programs are for the full year. Students earn credits toward graduation through a focus on a career or technical program that they choose.
“Career and Technical Education is such an integral component in a high school education,” Haney said. “It prepares students for real world problems and helps them develop real world solutions. Students who engage in CTE programs emerge ready for both college and careers. Furthermore, they often discover their lifelong passions. The collaboration between MDI High School and HCTC has never been stronger, to the benefit of the individual students, our particular school, and our communities.”
According to Hancock County Technical Center’s website,
“SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA helps each student to excel. SkillsUSA is a national organization serving teachers and high school and college students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations, including health occupations and for further education.
“SkillsUSA's mission is to empower its members to become world-class workers, leaders, and responsible American citizens.
“SkillsUSA programs include local, state, and national competitions in which students demonstrate occupational and leadership skills. At the annual national-level SkillsUSA Championships, over 5,900 students compete in 98 occupational and leadership skill areas.”
The trios portfolio and project will go before a panel of judges on March 15. The national competition will be held in June in Atlanta, Georgia.
“They really are ready,” Hart Mason said. “They really want it.”
THE COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS
The trio already held a football skills clinic in mid-October. This Sunday, December 17, they’re hosting a movie at Conners Emerson. Next, it’ll be two activity nights for grade schoolers. One will be at an MDI school. The other will be at Bucksport.
For Sunday’s event, they’ve printed out golden tickets, secured the movie and venue, created a flyer, distributed it, roped in other Hancock County Technical Center students for support, and managed budgets and the media.
The entrance is by donation and begins at 2 p.m.
UPDATED! This story was updated at 12:50 P.M, December 15 to include quotes from Matt Haney.