SPONSORS
Much praise and great press has been coming in from throughout the state regarding last night's youth-organized Prepare Maine Education Gubernatorial Forum. Everyone agrees that the event was the most fun and innovative forum yet, and that more compelling than the candidates' responses were the students' involvement and questions. Together, we were able to illustrate that education is important not only to the advancement of the state, but it is a primary issue of concern to students, those it touches most.
You can watch the video here:
[NOTE: This video stats at the 00:01 mark.]
Further: You can review some of the great live-blogging that took place. We had three live-bloggers, two of which were high school students:
- Derek Viger, education writer at Pine Tree Politics [Forum Live-blog]
- Haley Hayden, student [Forum Live-blog]
- Cheng Chen, student [Forum Live-blog]
Here is some of the great press that the event earned:
- Students run gubernatorial forum in Bangor [Waterville Morning Sentinell]
- Students quiz five candidates in Bangor [Bangor Daily News]
- Maine students host Prepare Maine Gubernatorial Candidate Forum [Emma Thieme, UMaine Journalism Student]
- 5 Maine gov candidates discuss education at debate [Macon dot Com]
Letters and Editorials in support of the event:
- Yellow Light Breen: Education is job 1 for economy, future [Bangor Daily News]
- Katie Zema and Beth Yvonne: Youths' ideas about the Blaine House are worth hearing [Portland Press Herald]
On the lead-up to the event:
- Lewiston library to host tele-forum [Lewiston Sun Journal]
- Young Voters Hope To Interact With Gubernatorial Candidates [WABI 5]
- Local Students Take Part in Gubernatorial Forum [WABI 5]
- Tonight, students challenge the candidates [Kennebec Journal]
- Youth Organized Prepare Maine Gubernatorial Forum Tonight [I love Portland Maine]
Related:
- Class Act: Yellow Light Breen, senior vice president, Bangor Savings Bank, Bangor; chair, Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education, Augusta [MaineBiz]
Together we were able to get the candidates to have a thoughtful, civil conversation about their visions for education in the state, and together, we were able to share with them our ideas, concerns, and values. This conversation has only just begun, and it does not stop now that the forum is over, nor will it end on Election Day. It is up to us to remain in front of Maine's next governor, in front of our elected representatives, and in front of our neighbors, reminding everyone in the state that providing a quality, comprehensive for everybody in Maine is imperative to our success as a state. Moving forward from here, that is what we will be doing, and we hope that you will join us for this ride.
Stay tuned for our next steps in keeping that conversation going. In the meantime, please let us know your thoughts on last night's event by way of responding to this email, leaving a comment at this event roundup on our blog, or by visiting our Facebook page.