HANNAH JOSEPHS

Hannah Josephs steered her path in her own direction.

The graduating Falmouth senior was involved in 4-H throughout high school, a rarity in the town of Falmouth but not in her family. Raising animals in the 4-H working steer program, she has shown her prize-winning oxen in fairs from the Ossipee Valley Fair in July to the Fryeburg Fair in October. She also serves on the Maine 4-H State Youth Council and went to the national 4-H summit in Washington, D.C., this fall.

Josephs is the youngest of four sisters, all of whom went to Falmouth High School. The family got involved in 4-H after the eldest participated in a teen agriculture program at Wolfe’s Neck Farm and became interested in livestock. One day, a family friend showed up with two bull calves in a truck for the family to raise, and soon all the Josephs sisters were on board.

“Being the youngest sister, I was like, ‘Oh, I want to do what they’re doing.’ And so we came from not doing anything with farming to having six pairs of steers,” said Josephs.

Josephs integrated this passion project into her education. She received academic credit for her 4-H involvement, and for her public speaking class she brought her steers to school. For her senior project, Josephs handmade a traditional Canadian-style head yoke, the harness that pairs the steers together.

While few students at Falmouth High School come from farming backgrounds, many have learned more about raising livestock through Josephs.

“I don’t think the majority of them know a lot about it. I try not to be overbearing with it, but I try to talk about it whenever it’s relevant,” said Josephs.

Josephs took a hands-on approach to other areas of her education as well. Her junior and senior year, she spent half of her school days at the Portland Arts and Technology High School, also known as PATHS, a career and technical high school, gaining college credits in the education program. She will study special education at the University of Southern Maine this fall.

“So she’s really just used a lot of her academic knowledge, along with her hands-on opportunities with PATHS to, I guess, make her path,” Danielle Calhoun, Falmouth High School counselor.

Through the PATHS program, she completed an internship at Falmouth Elementary School where she determined that she liked working in behavioral needs.

“I like doing the detective work and figuring out what a child needs to have support,” said Josephs. “I like thinking on my feet and kind of having to have … quick reactions to things.”

Josephs plans to keep raising her animals and helping run the Cumberland County 4-H club that she first got involved with alongside her sisters.

“(Josephs) is just one of the most passionate students I’ve worked with in terms of her studies, her animals, her family. She’s pretty awesome,” said Calhoun.

TRAVIS DOW

Travis Dow showed leadership from the track to the classroom.

The new Falmouth High School alum played on the Falmouth lacrosse team as well as the indoor track team, of which he was the captain last winter.

“I really love the team, and everybody on the team. It really feels like a family, and then we just have a ton of fun playing lacrosse,” said Dow.

Dow and many of his teammates started running track as a secondary sport as conditioning for the spring season. As Dow grew to love track in its own right and took on a leadership role, he navigated keeping everyone motivated in practice.

“So just there’s a little bit of challenge of keeping everybody motivated and serious throughout practice. I think we all did a really good job of it, and the team had an overall pretty successful season,” he said.

Dow also participated in the school government and Science Olympiad, which won the state championship this spring.

In just a few weeks, Dow will head to the United States Naval Academy in Maryland. In addition to wanting to serve the country, he said it’s a good track to his goal of being a Navy pilot.

“As an officer, you’re a leader, and so being a good and supportive leader is obviously fundamental in that,” said Dow.

Even from his desk at Falmouth High School, Dow showed up as a leader. Teachers took note.

“As a student, he was great at taking this leadership role within the classroom,” said Eden Pfahler, Dow’s chemistry teacher during his junior year.

Pfahler said Dow would help students understand problems and guaranteed that a group of students figuring out problems would cross the finish line together.

“That’s what kind of describes him, this natural leader that’s not forcing it. He kind of just falls into it because he is smart and good at communicating his knowledge, so I think he just kind of assumes the role, because it’s almost handed to him, or falls in his lap,” said Pfahler.

Dow remained grateful to his community that both supported and challenged him to seek leadership roles.

“Falmouth High School, or just the town of Falmouth in general, is a really good and supportive community that I’m really glad I was a part of,” said Dow.