The Maine Science Festival gives students a fresh look at where their talent can take them.
BANGOR, Maine — An award called the National Medal for Museum and Library Service—”the nation’s highest honor for institutions that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities”– has been around for more than thirty years. In all that time, no organization in Maine had ever received it—until 2025, when it was given to five museums around the country, including the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor.
“One of the reasons Maine Discovery Museum has been honored,” executive director Kate Dickerson told me, “is because of the programs we have that reach Mainers of all ages.” Among those programs is the Maine Science Festival, which we visited on what’s known as Field Trip Day.
It’s an event for 7th- and 8th-graders across the state, with activities designed especially for that age group. The aim is to give those kids a better idea of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) in Maine and some of the career opportunities it offers.
“Maine has remarkable science and engineering, and Mainers honestly do a terrible job talking about how good they are at things,” Dickerson said. “I have no problem saying, ‘We’re really good at this. Let’s show kids what they’ve got.’”
The demonstrations at Field Trip Day explored a wide range of subjects from seaweed to textiles, Virtual Reality to kinesiology. “It was really hands-on,” one student said, “which is what I like.”
One of the presenters was Isabella Camarra from the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composite Center, specifically the fibers and specialty textile research lab. She talked to the students about how textiles have uses that go far beyond clothing to architecture, composites, and even sporting goods.
The students’ reactions were gratifying. “I love [textiles] so much,” Camarra said, “that it’s fun when other people are excited too.”