Let’s Get Social: March 2025 ICYMI, here’s a sampling of what was liked, loved, and shared on our social media channels in March 2025.
With The Spring Fellowships Application Deadline Looming, we looked back at what Melina Masselli did in africa
When it comes time to promote the twice-annual Mitchell Institute Fellowships application deadlines (the next is April 1, 2025), we like to pose a provocative question: How far could a Fellowship take you? For Melina Masselli, a 2020 Mitchell Scholar from Lewiston High School and a Pre-Med graduate of Wheaton College in Massachusetts, the answer was nearly 7,400 miles — all the way to Kenya. Masselli (second from left) applied for fellowship funding and was named a Dubyak Fellow. The $1,500 she received through a gift to the Mitchell Institute from Michael and Denise Dubyak helped defray the cost of her flights to and from Kenya for a six-week pre-physician assistant internship with International Medical Aid. ICYMI, Mitchell Institute Fellowships are financial awards of up to $1,500 — over and above the Scholarship — that are available to both current Mitchell Scholars and Alumni for a broad range of activities, such as unpaid or underpaid internships; travel or accommodation costs associated with professional or personal development opportunities (internships, conferences, career-related service projects, study-abroad opportunities, etc.); and professional license fees and examination fees for tests like the LSAT/MCAT/GRE and Praxis. And these are just some examples.
We Gave Hearty Congrats to Mitchell Scholar Alum Sean Sibley ’10
We never miss a chance to give hurrahs to Scholars and Alumni whose good deeds get the attention of businesses and organizations — and Dr. Sean Sibley, the 2010 Mitchell Scholar from Mattanawcook Academy, is no exception. We gave him a tip of the hat for receiving the University of Maine Alumni Association’s Spirit of Maine Achievement Award. Sibley, who earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Nursing at UMaine, is now the Family Nurse Practitioner Program Coordinator, a Clinical Assistant Faculty member in UMaine’s School of Nursing, and Project Director for UMaine’s Advanced Nursing Education Workforce. He received the University of Maine Alumni Association honor for his outstanding contributions to healthcare and education. According to the citation, Sibley provides inclusive healthcare, specializing in LGBTQ+ care and mental health, including substance abuse treatment, and his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic was instrumental in shaping policies and ensuring safe student care.
to plug the spring fellowships one more time, we looked back at what deklin fitzgerald did in Ireland
For Deklin Fitzgerald, a junior media studies major at the University of Southern Maine and rapidly advancing photographer, his Fellowship-supported trip to Ireland was a series of firsts: the first time on a plane, the first time overseas, the first stamp on a first passport, and the first time traveling alone. In addition to those firsts, Fitzgerald himself was the first Mitchell Scholar to take advantage of a new and ongoing fellowship-funding partnership between the Maine Irish Heritage Center (MIHC) in Portland and the Mitchell Institute. Two years ago, the MIHC pledged funds raised in honor of Eddie Murphy, the founder of Portland’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, to support Mitchell Scholars and alumni who choose to pursue fellowship opportunities in Ireland. As mentioned above, Mitchell Institute Fellowships are financial awards of up to $1,500 — over and above the Scholarship — that are available to both current Mitchell Scholars and Alumni for a broad range of activities, such as unpaid or underpaid internships; travel or accommodation costs associated with professional or personal development opportunities (internships, conferences, career-related service projects, study-abroad opportunities, etc.); and professional license fees and examination fees for tests like the LSAT/MCAT/GRE and Praxis. And these are just some examples.