Waterville tech center recognizes May celebrities

Mid-Maine Technical Center has announced its May 2023 celebrities: Adam Brann, at left, and Gabbie St. Peter.

WATERVILLE — Mid-Maine Technical Center has announced its 2023 May celebrities.

Messalonskee High School senior Adam Brann of Sidney found his rightful place in the culinary arts classroom at Mid-Maine Technical Center. The professional kitchen feels like home for Brann, where he thrives on the challenges, is hungry for the fast pace and relishes the camaraderie with his peers, according to a news release from Kalyn Black, Workforce Development coordinator the technical center.

Adam Brann Shirley Brook, MMTC Media and Marketing coordinator

Preferring the savory side of culinary arts, Brann’s favorite thing to cook is “all things Italian,” but he has learned more than how to make chicken parmesan, lasagna and gnocchi; through competing in the classroom and at other events throughout the state, he has discovered the importance of perseverance and self-reliance.

In the past if he made a mistake, he would be afraid of failing and feel like giving up. Now, after facing multiple challenges in the kitchen he refocuses and endeavors to fix his mistakes. He attributes this shift in his attitude to the support of MMTC culinary arts instructor, Chef Drew Jones.

Recently Brann participated in the local SkillsUSA competition, earning a gold medal and a chance to compete at the state competition held in Bangor in March. Awarded a silver medal at the state competition, Brann earned a place at the table at this prestigious event competing with other culinary arts students from CTE schools across the state.

Brann is an inductee of the National Technical Honor Society, a high honors student at both Messalonskee High School and MMTC and is the 2023 student of the year for culinary arts.

Brann will study culinary arts at Seattle Central College in Washington state in the fall.

When junior Gabbie St. Peter of Waterville is not studying criminal justice at MMTC, she can be found defending the goal on her Waterville Senior High School field hockey team or protecting the environment with the Green Team club. She is involved with yearbook and this year made the tennis varsity team.

Gabbie St. Peter Chris Bolduc Photography

She earned a place on the SkillsUSA state officer leadership team, representing MMTC at local, state and national events. She also finds time to volunteer at the Waterville Area Food Bank.

Aligned with her long-standing love of helping others, St. Peter has been dreaming of a career in criminal justice from a young age. St. Peter first learned of MMTC in eighth grade while on a tour of the center.

Now a rising senior, she is venturing further into her second year in the MMTC criminal justice program. This will set her on the path toward a future at the University of Alabama in the fall of 2024.

As St. Peter finishes her first year at MMTC, she offers this advice to prospective criminal justice students, “Don’t let the stereotypes about the profession intimidate you. Once you take that first step, you realize how much positivity you can bring to the difficult situations you encounter. You can bring hope and positivity to any situation, you can make a difference to people when they might be facing the hardest moments of their lives.”