{"id":354,"date":"2018-12-18T14:58:14","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T14:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue3-2018\/?p=354"},"modified":"2018-12-18T20:19:40","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:19:40","slug":"more-than-a-home-away-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue3-2018\/features\/more-than-a-home-away-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than a Home Away from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the home of Carol Adams and Rick Armstrong, as many as 20-25 Maine Maritime Academy students may show up for a special open house dinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I ask the kids, \u2018What do you want to eat?\u2019 they say, \u2018Really good steak,\u2019\u201d Adams says with a laugh. \u201cThat\u2019s our most well-attended event.\u201d<\/p>\n

A good home-cooked meal is just one of the benefits available to students through MMA\u2019s Castine Sponsor program. Armstrong and Adams are long-time participants of the program, which pairs local families with one to two incoming students from out of state each fall.<\/p>\n

The program provides new students, many far from home for the first time in their lives, with a substitute family, so to speak.<\/p>\n

Sponsors are happy to introduce students to the area, invite them into their homes for meals, provide transportation to the airport at vacation time, bring students along on grocery runs, invite them for family activities such as sailing, fishing, or attending local events, or just allow them to hang out.<\/p>\n

The relationships are available to the students throughout their time at MMA, so long-time sponsors might have 8 to 10 students on their roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing about Maine Maritime\u2014they have incredible resources to help students who are struggling in any kind of way, academic or otherwise,\u201d says Armstrong. \u201cWe\u2019re a little cog in that wheel, and we\u2019re pleased to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Meal

Adams and Armstrong sometimes host not only their sponsored students, but also other students for special meals.<\/p><\/div>\n

Started by Jeff and Susie Loustaunau in 2001, about 20 families are involved in the program today. The Loustaunaus got the idea when their daughter and son attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, which has its own sponsor program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw real benefit in that and thought it could work here,\u201d says Jeff. \u201cThese are kids far from home and in a very different environment, especially the students who are in the regiment. The idea is to give them something similar to a home where they can go and relax, maybe have a home-cooked meal.\u201d
\nIn addition, says Susie, \u201cWe thought it would be good for people in the community to have contact with students so they would get to know more about the school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armstrong and Adams moved to Castine in 2008 for retirement. Armstrong connected with MMA through its tidal energy program, then became an adjunct professor of engineering. (Adams formerly worked in finance for a global company. Armstrong\u2019s former positions include marine engineer, boatyard and marina owner\/operator, and head of port security for the State of Massachusetts.) They learned of the program from the Loustaunaus and decided to give it a try in 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was another dimension of getting involved with the students,\u201d says Armstrong. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to see them in the classroom but another to get to know them in a more residential environment.\u201d
\nSince then, they\u2019ve become enthusiastic participants, \u201cofficially\u201d hosting 16 to 20 students. \u201cAt any given time, officially, we have two students for each year for the five years,\u201d says Adams. \u201cBut unofficially, we have quite a few more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always have friends, and we encourage that,\u201d says Armstrong. \u201cWe have a good-sized boat shed, and there\u2019s lots of stuff in there that I brought from the boatyard and from my hobbies. They really get engaged in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, they love to entertain. Fall weekends see students swarming the couple\u2019s apple trees, plucking fruit and pressing it for cider. Sundays are pretty much open house with evening supper. Planned events include that steak dinner, plus a big cookout during Homecoming weekend and a lobster bake for graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy then, we know the students and their families pretty well,\u201d says Adams. Generally, we have parents staying with us by that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew Breuer had Adams and Armstrong as his sponsor. \u201cIt felt like I was home every time I was over there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Breuer, who is from Alton, New Hampshire, enrolled at MMA in 2013. Majoring in marine engineering technology, he graduated in 2017 and is now a U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kind of adopted me and my friends. I\u2019ll never forget the big party they threw for me, with a big, old-fashioned lobster bake, the day I graduated.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Breuer recalled receiving an email from MMA before the start of his freshman year. \u201cIt says, \u2018If anyone is interested in having a host family, please respond to this email,\u2019\u201d Breuer says. \u201cIt sounded interesting. Why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks after arriving at school, he met Armstrong and Adams during a meet and greet. \u201cAfter that, they started inviting me over for dinner,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Breuer found the couple was available for anything he might need.<\/p>\n

\u201cRick would let me use his tools,\u201d he says. \u201cThey would let me bring my friends over to hang out or watch football. They kind of adopted me and my friends. I\u2019ll never forget the big party they threw for me, with a big, old-fashioned lobster bake, the day I graduated and was commissioned into the Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some students look at the program in strictly practical terms\u2014a ride to the airport or an overnight stay. But for most, the relationship becomes a form of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really helpful,\u201d says Edison Ma, a 2018 graduate in Marine Systems Engineering and now an engineer for the American Bureau of Shipping. Adams and Armstrong became Ma\u2019s sponsor in his junior year. \u201cIt was a personal experience, to get to know them well, to have a place to get away from campus on weekends, and to have someone who lived close by and could help out just in case anything happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ma says it\u2019s also a great way to connect with upperclassmen in a casual setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause there were two students per host family each year, we could get to know upperclassmen face-to-face and learn the nitty-gritty about how they got through cadet shipping and the training cruise and so on, and then turn around when new students came in and tell them how we got through it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes them feel they\u2019re not alone, and there are people in the community who are looking for them to succeed, so they don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re the only ones in this,\u201d says Rachael Iannoli.<\/p>\n

Iannoli and her husband, Phil Cotoni, became sponsors after moving to the area five years ago, when Cotoni was offered the position of General Manager of Dining Services at MMA. Iannoli subsequently became MMA\u2019s Conferences and Events Director. They became involved in the program right away because they figured it would be a great way to get to know students. Like Adams and Armstrong, they\u2019ve had a dozen or so official students. \u201cBut, I\u2019ve had a lot of step-sponsor kids, too,\u201d Iannoli says. \u201cI\u2019ve probably had 10 to 15 kids at the house at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cItalian night\u201d feasts are big at their house. And it\u2019s just fun to be there.<\/p>\n

\"Students

Tynan O\u2019Brien, Huxley Conner, Erik Brocken, Ahmed Al Shuwaili, Miles Schoenberg, Nate Arena, Will Scarlet, Caroline Foy, Shea Donnelly, Kealoha Higgins, Avery Leclerc, Will Guerette.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe have dirt bikes and four-wheelers and lots of animals,\u201d says Iannoli. \u201cThey come for dinner, or we take them to the doctor or pick them up from the airport or communicate with their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

For parents, the program can be reassuring and useful. Iannoli and Adams speak to occasional roles as touchstones for nervous parents.<\/p>\n

Another strong sponsor has been Bev Bishop whose experiences with students sometimes has them attending symphony performances to broaden their cultural repertoire. \u201cIt\u2019s a requirement,\u201d she says. \u201cI love my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program fosters town-gown interaction, too. \u201cRick and Carol would always let me know when the locals needed help,\u201d Breuer says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis host program gives many Castine residents the only way to connect with Maine Maritime,\u201d says Armstrong. \u201cWe encourage people\u2014they really ought to try it, at least for a year, to get an understanding of the program and the academy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most poignant are the lasting friendships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re in touch all the time and invite us to changes of command and getting their wings and being part of their lives,\u201d says Armstrong.<\/p>\n

For more information about the program, visit mainemaritime.edu\/student-life\/campus-resources\/castine-student-sponsor-program<\/a> or contact Rhonda Varney at rhonda.varney@mma.edu<\/a>.\u2588<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos: Rhonda Varney<\/span><\/p>\n

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Past & Present Sponsors:<\/h1>\n