PORTSMOUTH – The Portsmouth High School Debate Team hosted the first New Hampshire High School Public Forum Debate Meeting on October 23 to kick off its 2021-2022 season.

Joe Kraus, English teacher and PHS coach, said the 26 students on this year’s squad make it the largest in the history of the program.

Kraus credits the team’s high visibility last year as senior captains Sam Borne, Josie Sedam, Avery Sincliar and Loreley Godfrey took part in several national debate tournaments last season.

The NH Debate League competition kicked off the season, which runs through April. COVID-19 attrition has participation from NH schools up to PHS, Oyster River, Bedford and Philips Exeter Academy. The new St. Thomas Aquinas Debating Club has over 30 students and first student Owen Coffee has partnered with Avery Sinclair of PHS with several STA students and two teachers watching the competition.

Shannon McAden, STA’s first-year theology professor, said the students were excited to start the competition, especially after seeing Coffee who was paired with Sinclair from PHS and finished the four-round competition in second place.

Traditionally, the PHS team has paired experienced contestants with first-year debaters, to guide students through their first debate. Coffee said Sinclair “was a great trainer and taught me how to take notes during debate.” PHS Senior Carter Schmidt and Freshman Nolan Peters were the first team, followed by PHS Adam Hopin and Yazan Alhamadan in third place. Debaters from Portsmouth took the top spots in the standings for individual speakers, with Schmidt finishing first, followed by Alhamadan and Peters.

The next competition will take place on November 20 when the teams travel to Oyster River High School and discuss the pros and cons of cyber currency. Students should be prepared to debate pros and cons as their position is determined each round by a toss. The large PHS team and many other STA competitors who are expected to start competing require more volunteer judges. Other competitive school teams have referees or referees, but debate competitions depend on volunteer judges. Dave Andersion, parent of freshman Charlie Anderson, has experience in judging, but not in the public forum debate format. Anderson said he was most impressed with “the old-fashioned skills like listening, taking a stand, supporting with facts were great to see because they’re still important skills.”

PHS Freshman Miles Borne, who was competing with his older brother Sam Borne, said: “I really liked the crossfire as you chat and follow what you were saying.”

Scott Marcus, parent of Senior Rio Marcus, was also impressed with the crossfire segments and how the students “had to think on their feet and present counter arguments.” Parent Peggy Mikkonen, whose eldest daughter Molly had an impressive performance winning a number of solo debates, said how well prepared the students were and it was a lot more encouraging than watching the last presidential debate.

PHS students interested in joining the team can contact PHS coach Krauss at [email protected] Judges can be from the community, so former PHS and STA students or anyone else interested in helping young people learn to research both sides of a topic and politely argue on either side can contact the coordinator. PHS volunteer judges Steven Borne at [email protected]

UNH Scientists Share $ 13 Million In Grants To Study Benefits Of Feeding Dairy Cows With Algae

DURHAM – Most people are unlikely to associate algae with milk production, but scientists at the University of New Hampshire will work to change that, sharing two grants totaling nearly $ 13 million to study supplementation diets of dairy cows with algae to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve milk quality and animal health.

New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station researchers André Brito and Alexandra Contosta will lead the UNH portion of the two projects, which total $ 1.5 million.

Dairy farmers continue to face financial uncertainties and are increasingly called upon to use agricultural production as a means of mitigating climate change. The agricultural industry is responsible for 10% of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. Livestock, especially ruminants such as cattle, account for more than a quarter of methane emissions, which is produced as part of normal digestive processes. Scientific innovation in feed management could help reduce these environmental effects in a cost-effective manner.

New Hampshire Art Educators Association Honors Colleen Sousa of Seabrook

SEABROOK – The New Hampshire Art Educators Association Awards Committee has announced that Colleen Sousa, an art educator at Seabrook Middle School, is the recipient of the New Hampshire Middle School Division Award for the 2021-2022 school year.

“We are very impressed with Colleen’s credentials as an art educator that is clearly reflected in her application materials. Her creativity and enthusiasm for working with students, colleagues and community members enrich arts education in our state. Colleen’s many accomplishments in the classroom are reflected in her boundless energy. by facilitating community projects such as the Yearbook, school art exhibitions, the Artist in Residence program and school theater production sets, ”said a press release. She also sits on the board of directors of the NHAEA as a coastal representative.

Assistant principal Cynthia Fagan sums up her recommendation from Sousa: “If you visited Colleen’s class, you would feel the passion and love for the art that she shows every day with her students. The environment she creates offers opportunities for independent work and collaboration throughout periods of creativity. Colleen is an exceptional arts educator and we are very proud of this appointment, her persistence and hard work. “

Atlantic Marine Energy Center, run by UNH, receives nearly $ 10 million from DOE

DURHAM – The new Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC), run by the University of New Hampshire in partnership with several universities on the east coast, has received $ 9.7 million over four years from the US Department of Energy (DOE ). The center will focus on research and development to meet current needs for renewable and sustainable marine energy. It will be one of the country’s four National Marine Renewable Energy Centers (NMRECs).

“This is an exciting opportunity to expand existing research and advance new technologies in a rapidly evolving field,” said Martin Wosnik, associate professor of mechanical engineering and director and principal investigator of AMEC. “We look forward to working with our partners on new solutions for marine energy, building on ongoing projects, and implementing vital laboratory capabilities and open water test sites for future progress.” . “

AMEC will be a consortium of academic institutions comprising UNH, Stony Brook University, Lehigh University and Coastal Studies Institute, which is administered by East Carolina University. In partnership with each other, as well as with several other key energy collaborators, researchers and engineers will work to advance ocean energy technology through research, education and development. awareness raising, in addition to the work carried out in the national laboratories of the DOE.

Scientists and engineers from each institution, including faculty and students, will work in the field, in the lab, or on the computer to study and implement ocean energy projects. Emphasis will be placed on scientific understanding and the overall efficiency of wave energy and tidal energy conversion, including wave-powered water pumps and tidal turbine farms. The cross-research will explore the applications of ocean sensing, aquaculture, resilient coastal communities, supply chains, marine foundations and marine micro-grids. Expansion of existing projects will include UNH’s Living Bridge project located on the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth, which provides tidal power to the iconic Memorial Bridge that connects New Hampshire and Maine. Researchers will seek accreditation for the project to become a large-scale test site for tidal power. The Coastal Studies Institute’s Jennette Pier project, located in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, will be developed as an accredited and scale test site specifically for wave energy.

The research will be funded by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) of the DOE under number DE-EE0009450 of the Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO).