To the Editor:

My name is Mason Labonte, and I am a student at Spruce Mountain High School and the Foster Career and Technical Education Center. I fully support LD 1740, An Act to Establish the Maine Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics Matching Grant Program. I helped advocate for this bill because I’ve seen firsthand how programs like this can change students’ lives – mine included.

I spent three years in FIRST® LEGO® League and three more in FIRST® Robotics, where I learned bookkeeping, public speaking, fundraising, and teamwork. Robotics led me to the Foster Career and Technical Education Center’s Business Academy, where I’m studying personal finance, marketing, accounting, and computer applications – skills preparing me for the workforce and a future in business administration.

I’ve also been heavily involved in the arts. After starting as a sound technician, I’ve served as the stage manager for our drama team’s musicals and one-act plays for the past two years. Theater, like robotics, taught me leadership, organization, and teamwork.

Since my freshman year, I’ve judged at our state FIRST® LEGO® League competitions because I care about supporting younger students’ hands-on learning journeys.

LD 1740 supports programs that helped build me into the student, leader, and future professional I am today. Please call your state representatives and senators and tell them to support LD 1740.

This bill matters. I’m living proof of what it can do.

Mason Labonte

Student Advocate
Spruce Mountain High School
Foster Career and Technical Education Center
Jay