The board of directors of the Blakeley-Mills Newfound Regional Scholarship Foundation has elected two new board members, Thomas Caldwell and Lesley McGowan, to serve on the foundation that offers scholarships to Newfound Regional High School graduating students and alumni in need of financial assistance to pursue educational advancement. It can be through a technical school, an apprenticeship, and/or college.
Caldwell, a member of Newfound Memorial High School’s Class of 1971, is a writer, editor, photographer, and videographer with an extensive background in all facets of journalism, including web design and content creation. A graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Literature and Creative Writing, he has been employed at weekly and daily newspapers (including as owner/publisher of The Telegram of Franklin) and served on the board of the NH Press Association. He also served as part-time executive director of the Newfound Region Chamber of Commerce, on the Bristol Budget Committee, and on the study committee for the construction of Newfound Regional High School. He has served on non-profit boards including the Newfound Area Nursing Association and Lakes Region Public Access TV, and is a board member of Franklin Developments. He currently publishes on Substack, including the News Café, a virtual meeting place for discussion and analysis of the news, and By The Way, offering news and feature stories of interest, many of which are picked up on a freelance basis by traditional media.
McGowan has been a resident of the Newfound area since the age of 4 and graduated from Newfound Regional High School in 1997. She attended the University of Maine at Farmington. Later McGowan transferred to UNH to complete an undergraduate degree in Family Studies with a concentration in Family Counseling and Child Development in 2001. After graduating, she was hired as the Administrative and Research Assistant for the Greenbook Project, a grant program through the NH Court System dedicated to addressing cooccurrence of domestic violence and child abuse in the state. In 2002, she married Jesse McGowan, Newfound Class of 1998 and UNH class of 2002. A year later they purchased land in Alexandria, built a home and welcomed their first of two daughters. McGowan managed the bookkeeping for a local bed and breakfast part-time and helped manage a local playground while taking care of her daughters. She volunteered at the Bristol Nursery School, serving as treasurer, later at Bristol Elementary School, served as Chair of the PTO, supporting students, teachers, and parents. After 8 years at BES as a paraprofessional, McGowan joined the Advancement Office at Plymouth State University, supporting their Alumni Relations and Development teams. McGowan is looking forward to using her skills and heartfelt belief in the power of our community to help further the mission of this scholarship committee.
Two great additions to our board of directors