Scholars Speak: A Podcast of the Mitchell Institute

Scholars Speak Podcast with Mitchell Scholar Karin Paquin

In the latest episode of the Scholars Speak podcast, host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, catches up with Karin Paquin, the 2003 Mitchell Scholar from Boothbay Region High School and bachelor’s and master’s graduate of the University of New England. Listen up as Paquin talks about her experiences as a Teachers in Space Human Flight Program candidate, CubeSat builder, zero-gravity flight participant, teacher of science and history at St. John’s Catholic School in Brunswick, and former lead aquarist at the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor. As for the advice Paquin has for Mitchell Scholars on how to pursue a broad range of professional experiences, she says, “Get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” That and “make use of the Mitchell Institute’s Fellowship opportunity.” 

Scholars Speak Podcast with Mitchell Scholar Dakotah Dugan

In the latest episode of the Scholars Speak podcast, host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, catches up with Dakotah Dugan, the 2003 Mitchell Scholar from Fryeburg Academy and Psychology–Pre-Med graduate of the University of Southern Maine.

Listen up as Dugan speaks about the importance of understanding one’s transferable skills and building relationships with people as she traces her career path, which includes serving as Development Data Administrator at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Information Technology and Enrollment Manager at Baxter Academy for Technology and Science, several roles of progressive responsibility at TD Bank (most recently Head of Product Development Strategy for Credit Card and Unsecured Lending and Integration Lead for Consumer Deposit Products and Payments), and now Senior Director, Compliance Advisory – Deposits at Discover Financial Services.

“Building relationships with people has been the single most important thing I’ve done in my entire career,” Dugan tells Martin. “The relationships and the networking and the connections that I made always took me to that next level.”

Scholars Speak Podcast with Mitchell Scholar Leo Wing

In the latest episode of the Scholars Speak podcast, host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, catches up with perhaps the only Mitchell Scholar currently in the employ of the National Basketball Association. Listen up as Leo Wing, the 2015 Mitchell Scholar from Cape Elizabeth High School and Economics and English graduate of Northwestern University, traces his career path from strategic consulting on growth, mergers, and acquisitions for technology, media, and telecom companies to being an analyst for early-stage venture capital investing focused on real estate and construction technology to being manager of direct-to-consumer strategy and forecasting for the NBA. To hear Wing tell it, his career goal of combining his interest in analysis and strategy with his enthusiasm for media and entertainment has its roots in a part-time college job: serving various executive board roles for A&O Productions, Northwestern's large-scale event production club that brings blockbuster films and performances by nationally known figures in music, comedy, and contemporary thought to the university’s 23,000 students.  

 

Scholars Speak Podcast with Mitchell Scholar Cassandra Cote Grantham

In the latest episode of the Scholars Speak podcast, host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, catches up with one of Maine’s most impactful public health leaders: Cassandra Cote Grantham, the 2000 Mitchell Scholar from Falmouth High School. Listen up as Grantham, who earned a bachelor’s in French and Religious Studies at Colby, discusses the mentoring and advice she received throughout her college years that led to earning a master’s in Health Communications at Emerson College, serving as Director of Child Health Programs at MaineHealth, and helping to lead Greater Portland Health as Chief Operating Officer. “The people you meet and the relationships you form are the basis for your personal and professional experience. Find the people who care about you,” Grantham advises Mitchell Scholars. “Find the people who want you to be successful and lean into them.”

 

Scholars Speak Podcast with Mitchell Scholar Amanda Hall

In the latest episode of the Scholars Speak podcast, host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, catches up with Amanda Hall, the 2010 Mitchell Scholar from Mt. Blue High School. Listen up as Hall, who earned a bachelor’s at Yale University, a master’s at Queen’s University Belfast, and a doctorate at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, talks about how a Mitchell Institute-sponsored study abroad opportunity in Northern Ireland changed the course of her life and how that time in Belfast sparked an interest in studying the legacy of Senator Mitchell’s work there that ended decades of sectarian violence. Hall, who was recently appointed an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Reading near London, says the Mitchell Institute “introduced me to the passion I have carried into my professional life.”

 

Scholars Speak Podcast with Mitchell Scholar Wendy Gibbs

In the latest episode of the Scholars Speak podcast, host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, catches up with Wendy Gibbs, the 2012 Mitchell Scholar from Mount View High School. Listen up as Gibbs, who earned bachelor’s degrees in Business Management and Political Science at the University of Maine and later an MBA at Husson University, talks about her role as Vice President, Senior Commercial Portfolio Manager, at Bangor Savings Bank, her motivation for serving on the Mitchell Institute Alumni Council, and why she chose to join the Truc Huynh Alumni Giving Society (by paying forward the full amount of her Scholarship to the Institute for future generations of Mitchell Scholars). 

 

Scholars Speak Podcast with Mitchell Scholar Adam Fortier-Brown

In the latest episode of the Scholars Speak podcast, host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, catches up with Adam Fortier-Brown, the 2015 Mitchell Scholar from Gardiner Area High School. Listen up as Fortier-Brown, who graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in Economics and Political Science, shares insights on how his internships in the Office of U.S. Senator Susan Collins and with the Cohen Group led to serving as Government Relations Manager for the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (where he helped pass the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020, the largest U.S. conservation project since the Eisenhower era) and now as a Senior Consultant for Deloitte (where his clients include the U.S. Department of the Navy at the Secretary level). Throughout his career, Fortier-Brown says he has been guided by answering a single question he asks himself: “How can my work improve the place I love, which is Maine?”

 

Scholars Speak Podcast with Mitchell Scholar Henry Beck

In the latest episode of the Scholars Speak podcast, host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, catches up with Henry Beck, the 2005 Scholar from Waterville High School and now Treasurer for the State of Maine. Listen up as Beck, who graduated from Colby College with a degree in Government, shares insights on how he was elected to the Waterville City Council during his first year of college and the Maine Legislature during his senior year of college, as well as why he earned a J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law and why he chose to return to a career in public service after years in private practice.