By Dan Elliott

Hot off the weekend’s Blue Angels air show, SMCC’s Midcoast Campus hosted its annual Welcome Barbecue last Wednesday, an outdoor luncheon offered to both staff and students as they began settling in for the fall semester.

Attendees were treated to a thin haze of sweet and savory scents wafting from the campus’s main parking area and stretching out to Orion Residence Hall. The event was an opportunity for students to connect with both one another as well as with the faculty they will encounter throughout the year. They were able to recount the events of their summer, discuss the experiences they’d had with the courses offered on campus and, probably most importantly, share a laugh or two over a piping hot quesadilla, courtesy of Rodeo Go, a Mexican food truck.

Though authentic Latin-American cuisine was offered, some decided to partake in a lunch with a more distinctly backyard feel. “It’s good,” one woman exclaimed as she finished off her grilled hot dog, explaining that she preferred the quick comfort food over braving the cadre of hungry students and instructors congregated near the food truck.

In addition to the catered lunch, several organizations were on site offering information regarding services available to Midcoast students, including Brunswick’s Curtis Memorial Library, a valuable local resource which is available free of charge to students. Also on site was a caricaturist, who spent her time talking with students while drawing their portraits.

Evan Poissonier, a Cyber Security major attending this fall semester, stated that it was “a pick-me-up to see everyone.” He was also excited to join the Gaming Club, which offers him a spot to play Magic: The Gathering as well as other popular tabletop games. Other clubs, such as the Photography Club headed by John Stetson, also saw a high volume of interest from students as well. As SMCC’s Midcoast location continues to grow, so too does the list of clubs and organizations available to the students.

In addition to those organizations, the campus offers students the option to start a club of their own, and many people who attended the barbecue were lined up to fill out their ideas on the club list in the Learning Commons.

Students and faculty were not the only ones out enjoying the end-of-summer festivities.  Young children, accompanied by their larger and older counterparts, were also in attendance, some of whom had a chance to enjoy playing around with an interactive art project that was collaboratively created by Mike Branca and his students. Branca, an adjunct art instructor teaching at the Brunswick location, holds an end-of-the-semester exhibit in the center of the L.L. Bean Learning Commons showcasing a selection of his students’ work. Visitors to the cookout were able to see some of the artwork that was still on display from students of the previous semester.

Though the weather seemed more on the ominous side at the beginning of the day’s festivities, it did not stop people from coming out and enjoying this year’s Welcome Barbecue. This seems a fitting analogy for students coming into the fall semester: Though things may begin to seem a bit stormy, the clouds can, and mostly likely will, break to let the good weather in.