Featured Alumnus

Patrick Graham, 2011 JMG Graduate, Houlton High School

A conversation with Patrick Graham, a member of Dee Butler's JMG class and a 2011 graduate of Houlton High School. Patrick is also one of four winners of the 2011 Maine State Chamber of Commerce Scholarship.

JMG: What are you studying at Maine Maritime Academy?
Patrick Graham: Marine Science (Oceanography)

JMG: Are you participating in any sports, clubs or activities?
PG: Yes, I am currently participating in the MMA Yacht club. Yacht Club has the second largest budget of any club at MMA because it brings five other clubs under one name. This allows a much larger budget to be more evenly distributed between the five clubs. Those clubs are: schooner crew, which sails the schooner Bowdoin Mondays through Thursdays in the fall; power crew, which teaches students how to drive boats with motors; sail training club, which teaches students how to sail a variety of vessels ranging from schooners to ketches to mercury class dinghies; supplemental seamanship, which allows students to get certified to drive small power boats independently; and outdoor adventure club, which goes on exploratory activities such as winter camping and hiking. I have participated in every one of these clubs in one way or another, and started last semester as an advertising assistant for the club. Elections for Yacht Club chairs happened at the beginning of this semester, and I procured the Communications Commodore seat. This position is regarded as the third most important in the club and handles all the advertising.

JMG: What do you like best about college?
PG: What I like most about MMA is my classes interest me. I find myself enjoying my school work and embracing the quantity of it. Aside from that, there is so much to do in terms of ocean-related activities. One of my favorite places on campus is the wet lab, a room containing eight large open tanks filled with different marine life ranging from mussels to rock crabs to brittle stars. I spend much of my time here doing personal experiments on the variety of species held in the tanks.

JMG: Are you working in addition to taking classes?
PG: I currently get work study at the library three hours a week. There I help people check books out, put returned books away, and reorganize books out of sequence on shelves. I also work as a student technician for the research vessel Friendship. I have learned how to fix a lot of research equipment, such as Niskin Bottles, as well as to operate research equipment such as a C-terminal domain (CTD).

JMG: How has winning the Chamber Scholarship helped you?
PG: Aside from helping me financially, winning the scholarship has helped me confidence-wise. It has shown me that there are people who care about my future and who want me to succeed. It has motivated me to try and do well in order to pay back those who believe in me.

JMG: What are your plans for when you finish college?
PG: I am still unsure as to what exactly I want to do with my degree. Oceanographers are employed in many areas of study such as chemistry, biology, physics and geology. However, I am positive I either want to work in the geology or hydrology fields. Some of the jobs I have in mind are working as a marine geologist for an oil company, working with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), or working as a hydrologist to solve water quality, quantity and distribution issues in different societies.