Grace Mueller graduated summa cum laude in 2009 with a degree in Geography-Anthropology and a minor in Women and Gender Studies. Shortly after graduation, she was a member of the inaugural class of Maine NEW Leadership. Starting in 2012, she attended the post-baccaularette premedical program at Washington University in Saint Louis while working as a research assistant at the School of Medicine. She was accepted into her top choice for medical school, the Tufts-Maine Medical Center Maine Track program, where she is currently a second-year student. She is a co-leader for her school’s chapter of Medical Students for Choice, leads a mindfulness group for first-year medical students, and volunteers with a Boston-area food rescue organization. She recently completed doula training and looks forward to supporting her first birth at Massachussetts General Hospital this spring.
After graduating from USM in 2005, Lon trialed most of his dream jobs (forest service, park service, mail delivery, etc), but ultimately realized he wanted to go into healthcare and keep the out-of-doors as an extracurricular passion. Not wanting to commit to a more extensive program, becoming a physician assistant became the obvious choice. He was accepted into UNE’s PA program, which thankfully kept him local to his home state and community; He graduated in 2016 and been working ever since in emergency medicine and urgent care environments, and currently work at Maine General Medical Center.
Patient centered care has become a passion, and Lon writes, “I’ve found myself consistently applying my USM anthropology skill set(!); while I’m not foraging for prehistoric remnants, the cultural awareness is priceless. I really love being a PA; it’s led me to become involved with MEAPA (Maine Association of Physician Assistants) serving on its board for the past four years.’
He continues, “As much as I’m enjoying my career path, I’m equally as content to return home to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and working to convert it to a year round residence. Youtube has become my “go to” for all things DIY, and the education and projects are neverending, which I appreciate. My dog of 12 years might disagree, though he has done well to find napping places amidst the hum of power tools.”
Volunteer, International Director of Bareebo (bareebo.org), and grad student
After graduating from the Geography-Anthropology program in 2006, David quickly put his degree to work. He began volunteering and working at a couple community development NGOs in Cambodia from 2006-2009. In 2009 he co-founded and became co-director of Bareebo: Tuk, Aha, Sahmahtupeeup (Enough: Water, Food, Ability) in Banan village, Battambang province, Cambodia. Bareebo is a local community development non-profit that focuses on:
Water security: rainwater harvesting, home scale water filters, shallow pump wells, EcoSan latrines
Food security: organic home gardening, cash cropping, fruit tree planting
Capacity building: community development, monitoring and maintaining water & food projects
Economic development: combining water, food, ability to spawn economic development, primarily through farmers collectively growing high value crops using water infrastructure in the dry season—almost zero water access in the 6 month long dry-season in Cambodia—and selling them to local and regional markets
As if that didn’t keep him busy enough, he earned his master’s degree from Iowa State’s distance learning graduate program for community development. Most importantly, David and Im Sreymum, a local Khmer woman, were married in 2010 and he reports that they are unbelievably happy together!