Intelligence at Its Finest

Emma DesVergnes with her dog(Photo/ submitted)

By: Abigail DesVergnes

Emma DesVergnes, a bright and intelligent young adult from Attleboro, Mass. is completing high school as a junior with a 4.0 GPA.

This year, Emma took it upon herself to ask her guidance counselor if she could graduate as a junior. “They said it couldn’t be done; she insisted it could,” said Emma’s mom, Kristen DesVergnes.

Taking it upon herself, Emma did some research where she searched for different online high schools until she found one to fit her needs. “I showed what classes I would be taking and proved that my credits would be transferable. I also included that I would be doing dual enrollment at BCC,” said Emma.

With all this information presented neatly in a folder, Emma handed her plans to her guidance counselor, Ms. Sharon Lamoureux.

Emma said, “The whole process took about four to six weeks and a few meetings until I finally got the okay to begin my journey, and once I did there was no hesitation to start.”

For the rest of the school year Emma attended high school during the week as a normal junior and then after school on Mondays and Tuesdays she attended Bristol Community College (BCC). On the days Emma didn’t attend college, including weekends, she worked on three online classes.

“These took a lot of time, because, in a way, I was teaching myself,” said Emma. James Madison High School, a national online high school (www.jmhs.com), sent her textbooks and at the end of each chapter, she had to complete online assignments and quizzes.

Taking on so many classes was an extremely big responsibility but it taught Emma to be very organized.

“I always put school work first. Getting my work done was super important to me. I tried to get to bed at a decent time each night but if I had homework I would make sure I finished before I went to sleep, no matter what the time was.”

Emma has grown up with her family of eight, including her mom and dad as well as her five brothers. She has lived in Maine, Florida and Massachusetts.

Emma started attending AHS last year. “Moving from Maine to Massachusetts was quite the culture shock. I moved from a house set back deep in the woods on a dirt road where the nearest McDonalds was 40 minutes away, to a crowded suburb area,” said Emma.

Influenced by her southern roots, as well as living with her five brothers, Emma’s favorite activities include anything that has to do with the outdoors. She enjoys horseback riding, fishing, hunting, off- roading, and hiking.

Next year, Emma is taking the fall off to work and have time for herself and plans on attending a community college in the spring for the first two years and then switching to a university to study pharmacy.

“This will give me an opportunity to experience the real world more on my own and learn things I wouldn’t necessarily learn in school,” she said.

Emma has had good grades since elementary school and each year she’s made it her goal to continue on the same path. “I believe anyone can maintain a high GPA if they truly strive for it,” said Emma.

This past October, one of Emma’s best friends, Christopher Hutcheon, died from a car accident where he suffered traumatic injuries.

Hutcheon was one of Emma’s main inspirations, always telling her she was going to do great things. Ten days before Hutcheon’s death he tweeted, “Never give up. There is no such thing as an ending just a new beginning.”

Hutcheon touched the lives of many with that tweet, especially Emma’s, and it was those words of inspiration and encouragement and the lasting legacy of Emma’s best friend, which led her to this significant accomplishment.

Family and friends are truly proud of Emma and are looking forward to her future endeavors.

“I wouldn’t stop until I got my girl. She is everything I’ve ever dreamed and beyond. I am so proud of my absolutely beautiful, smart, independent daughter. I love you more than life itself. Don’t ever forget this,” said Kristen to her daughter Emma.

ABC 6 News recently did a story on this as well.

ABC 6 News Story

Beth Clifton: 2014 AHS Salutatorian

The AHS Class of 2014 salutatorian, Beth Clifton. (Courtesy of Beth Clifton)

By: Giovanni Carcamo

The salutatorian for AHS was announced on May 15 during Awards Night. This year the crown was placed on Beth Clifton, second in the class with a GPA of 102.18.  She talks about her goals and how she prepared for the title.

Question: How did you feel when your name was called at Awards Night?

Answer: Mostly excited but also a little nervous about having to give a speech! I also felt accomplished, like four years of hard work had paid off.

Q: What kind of sacrifices have you made to achieve this goal?

A:  I’ve had to sacrifice a lot of free time. I know there have been times where my friends would be going out and I couldn’t because I had work to finish. I’ve also sacrificed a lot of sleep. Many nights I’d be up working even to 2 or 3 in the morning.

Q: How do you handle the stress of schoolwork?

A: My way of handling stress is by avoiding it. I try to get my work done on time so I don’t have to worry about turning in assignments late or not having enough time to finish. Any other stress I release through sports. For four years sports has been my release from academics, allowing me to get my mind away from school, even if just for a little while.

Q: What is your routine to balance all your extra-curricular activities?

A: I prioritize assignments, doing the hardest, most important or most urgent things first.

Q: What are your extra-curricular activities?

A: Soccer, basketball and spring track & field (captain for all three), coordinator for Project Unite, Youth Commissioner for the Attleboro Recreation Department; math tutor

Q: Was this a goal you had in mind when you began high school?

A: I honestly never thought about this until the end of sophomore year when my guidance counselor told me I was number two. Since then it’s always kind of been in the back of my mind to keep that rank, but it wasn’t a conscious goal.

Q: Do you feel that there is a certain way students can go to achieve this goal?

A:  I think because everyone is different, there’s no one strict way to become salutatorian. But if someone were asking me for advice, I’d tell them that hard work is what got me here, but I would also like to stress that while it’s an honor to be salutatorian, you shouldn’t work hard in school just for the rank, you should work hard because you’re passionate about learning. I think that is also a big reason I achieved this — because I wasn’t learning just to learn or just for the grade, I was learning because I wanted to.

Q: How did your family help you achieve this title?

A: My family has been so helpful that I cannot fit every way they’ve helped, but most impactful to me has been the little things they’ve done: my parents and brother setting an example of achievement, my mom and dad making me little snacks while I’m working or staying up late to help me with assignments, my brother giving me advice (especially since he recently took many of the classes that I took) or making me a root beer float at midnight when I’m still doing homework. Their support has been constant and unwavering for the past four years and I cannot speak enough about what they’ve done for me.

Q: Do you see yourself as a role model?

A: You know I never really saw myself as a role model until this year when I started to help out with the sixth grade girls’ basketball team. And just by virtue of being older than them, these girls looked up to me — literally too (sorry I had to make that cheesy joke). And I don’t know that I necessarily saw myself as a role model, but I knew I had to do my best to be a good one because I was setting an example for those girls.

Q: Who is your role model?

A:  This is cheesy, but my mom, when she was in high school was good at science and math so her guidance counselor basically told her she should become a nurse and that she wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything else. Instead she went to UC Berkeley, then Yale for grad school, and now she’s a published scientist. She’s shown me that I can succeed like she did no matter what anyone tells you.

Q: Do you plan to be the top in your college?

A:  Of course I’d love to do well in college, but I also look forward to it as an amazing experience where I can learn from the best of the best. There’s this quote that I have hanging on the wall in my room: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” Not only do I think it’d be hard to find such a room, I never want to because I think the best way to learn is from your peers.

Q: Was there a point where you felt that you wouldn’t be able to make the goal?

A:  There were definitely moments when I thought I wouldn’t become salutatorian, but that didn’t really faze me because it was never really a goal, just a byproduct of my hard work, so if I did get it that’d be cool, but if I didn’t it wouldn’t change all that I had done over the four years.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

A: In ten years, hopefully I’ll be an engineer, have done some world travel, and maybe be starting a family.

Q: What is your career goal?

A:  I’ll be studying engineering at Brown, and I hope to focus on aeronautical engineering. So ideally, I’ll work as an engineer designing planes, possibly for the military or even commercially.

Big Decisions for Seniors

By: Kade Page

Seniors face a lot of questions as they close in on graduation. (Created by Cameron Merritt)

Nov. is an important month for seniors to choose where they plan to go next year and what they want to do. Whether they search for a college to apply to, a business to work at, or plan to go into the Armed Forces; seniors have a lot of options to choose from.

The majority of seniors will apply to and later attend a state college or university, private college or university, or a two-year community college.

State schools are reasonably priced, with an annual tuition all-inclusive price of about $20,000 for in-state students, although most price tags for secondary schools increase annually. `

Most Massachusetts state schools also require a 3.0 GPA for regular admittance, or at least a 2.0 GPA and an SAT score determined by a standardized sliding scale.

Private colleges are not restricted by the state’s GPA standards, so each institution makes their own entry requirements. Private schools also include institutions like arts conservatories, music colleges, Ivy League schools, and religiously affiliated colleges. Students looking for the latter will rarely find a public school equivalent, because state schools are not allowed any religious affiliation, and have regulations for general education.

The large drawback with private schools, however, is the cost of tuition, which varies widely (from $40,000 at Princeton, to $11,000 at Kaplan), but students should expect to pay a larger amount for tuition. While an Ivy League school may carry more weight with an employer, the extensive cost should be a major consideration.

Community colleges are the cheapest alternative, with a price of about $800 per course, and are usually the least selective, allowing just about anyone who applies to attend. Many people choose community colleges because of the cost, their low GPA scores or a busy schedule. An opportunity at community colleges is the ability to earn a high GPA and then transfer into another preferred school possibly with a scholarship.

Seniors who do not choose to attend college might join the Armed Forces, such as the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, or National Guard. The Armed Forces is an alternative method toward attending college due to the G.I. Bill. Recruits will start boot camp the summer after graduation and are trained in numerous occupations.

Some people start or continue a trade apprenticeship, help out with the family business, or just work for a year or two to earn enough money to attend college in the future. Job flexibility is very limited without a diploma. Even welders, carpenters, mechanics, and other tradesmen must go to trade school to become licensed workers in their fields.

One thing is for sure, choices made today will impact a senior’s life for the next decade or longer.