A few weeks ago, this column profiled Dan Murray, a freshman, bio-engineering major at University of Maine at Orono. Dan’s twin sister, Jessica Murray, the subject of this article, is also a freshman at UMaine, but at Farmington, an attractive university campus and Maine college town that many of us drive through regularly for ski weekends at Sugarloaf.

The university is highly respected for its academic programs, especially for its teacher education. Indeed, Jessica is majoring in one such program, early childhood education, and last semester took courses in teaching mathematics, as well as courses in psychology and health and healing, the latter which she found particularly fascinating and useful.

Murray greatly enjoys the social and cultural life on the Farmington campus, including the many band concerts and movies featured at the university’s Campus Student Center. She reported the cafeteria-style food served there as “very good.” In fact, Murray waxes exuberant about almost everything at Farmington.

“It’s awesome here,” Murray said. “I have met some nice friends ... there is a close-knit community. It is small, so everybody knows everyone and you feel so welcome. It’s nice to see familiar faces so I don’t ever feel alone.”

Murray also enjoys her work study assignment in the school’s gym office where she helps Farmington’s team coaches. She also likes the familiar feeling of the small college town with its Reny’s Department Store. To sum it all up, “I’m loving it,” she said.

Jessica is supported at UMaine Farmington by one of the Boothbay Region Student Aid Fund’s Named Scholarships. The Julia L. Berry Daycare Fund was established a number of years ago at the high school in memory of Julia L. Berry. In 2007, the fund was transferred to the Student Aid Fund. Julia Berry had long expressed both a deep interest in and commitment to the idea of day care for working families and to elementary education in general. The Julia Berry Memorial Scholarship understandably funds Boothbay Region High School graduates who enroll in colleges and universities in the field of preschool and elementary education.

The Boothbay Region Student Aid Fund (BRSAF) is currently in the midst of its annual fund drive. The Julia L. Berry Memorial Scholarship is one of the BRSAF’s 54 Named Scholarships. Contributions to the BRSAF can be sent to P.O. Box 293, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538. For more information on the BRSAF, go to www.boothbayharborstudentaidfund.org.