Morning Sentinel
Mitchell urges UMA grads to take risks
BY MATTHEW STONE
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 05/11/2008

AUGUSTA -- A newly minted college graduate, Ann Marie Murphy-Heun has renewed confidence in herself.

"I never thought I was able to do this," she said Saturday as she waited to march into the Augusta Civic Center auditorium, one of nearly 400 students who received their diplomas Saturday during the University of Maine at Augusta's 40th commencement ceremony.

The university's full graduating class numbered 651 students.

Murphy-Heun, of Chelsea, one of nine women who received a bachelor's degree in biology, said she eventually hopes to become an elementary school teacher, perhaps after she pursues a master's degree.

After successfully overcoming the challenges of college, Murphy-Heun said, "I think I can do anything now."

Maine Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, urged UMA graduates at Saturday's ceremony to take risks while maintaining a sense of humor.

"Do not take yourselves too seriously," she said in her address. "Learn to laugh. Learn to love one another."

Mitchell briefly sported a red clown nose to drive home her message.

She also encouraged graduates to become involved in public service and work to change a partisan political culture that has soured.

"Try to get involved in a more civilized discourse about what's important to you," Mitchell said.

Saturday's commencement ceremony was the first for UMA president Allyson Hughes Handley, who became the college's president in March.

Handley told those in attendance -- graduates, university faculty members and cheering friends and family -- she would recommend that the University of Maine Board of Trustees rename UMA's Student Technology Center in honor of Handley's predecessor, recently retired UMA President Richard Randall.

Handley praised Randall for "playing a key role in helping UMA grow" and remaining independent from the University of Southern Maine.

In 2004, the University of Maine System Board of Trustees announced plans to merge UMA and USM. The board ultimately abandoned the merger.

Students Kelly Deprez, 26, of Augusta, and Laura Minoty, 46, of Mount Vernon received the college's Distinguished Student Awards.

Dean of Students Kathleen Dexter said Deprez's path to her degree -- which included an accident that left her in a coma for 10 days and without the ability to walk -- "offers hope for the rest of us."

Minoty, a single mother of three who completed a degree in social services, Dexter said, "exemplifies the traits of courage, tenacity and hard work."

A lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol, Minoty also performed approximately 900 hours of volunteer service in three years at UMA.

MaineGeneral Health President and CEO Scott Bullock received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony. Maine humorist Gary Crocker got a Distinguished Achievement Award.

As Ashley Kelley, of Holden, accepted her diploma on stage, her husband, who has been stationed in Iraq since January, was watching the ceremony live on UMA's Web site.

Kelley said she has been raising a son, barely six months old, alone since her husband left.

"I've been going to school and raising him and doing all the challenges of life," she said.

Jody Armstrong, now of Falls Church, Va., was receiving a degree after taking all of her classes online. In 2005, Armstrong was living with her husband in Gulfport, Miss., when Hurricane Katrina hit.

After evacuating and losing their home, Armstrong said she and her husband headed to Damariscotta, where she continued to pursue her UMA degree.

"We proceeded to do the only thing I knew we could," she said, "which was head back home where my mom was."

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com

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