The turning point for Mikayla Martin came during her freshman year at South Portland High School. The way Martin remembers it, a special education case manager warned her that if she didn’t make some changes, she wasn’t going to amount to much. Martin admits that she had little interest in school at the time and […]

When Caleb Bailey heads to the University of Maine this fall, he will enter as a sophomore, skipping a whole year of early morning introductory classes and exams, and saving about $24,000 in the process. Bailey, 18, will be the first student to graduate from Thornton Academy and decide to attend the university’s College of […]

Josh Lodish has spent a good portion of his time at Waynflete School working on social justice issues, and he’d like to become a civil rights lawyer, but he’s got more global plans for the next year or so. Lodish, who graduates this month from the private school in Portland, was a Project Respect mentor […]

Miranda Mastera stopped going to high school during her junior year. She was in an unhealthy relationship at the time and family upheaval at home made it impossible for her to continue, she says. She tried to return for her senior year but didn’t follow through. Last fall she gave it one more try, and […]

Sheibon Claire “Bon” Tizon grew up in a small town in the Philippines, where her family washed clothes outdoors in a large bucket and cooked meals over an open fire, mostly fish and rice grown in nearby fields. Tizon came to the United States when she was 13, after her mother married a Mainer and […]

For Isabella Pardales, it’s simple math. Americans now drink more bottled water than soda, though studies show it’s no healthier than tap water, it takes at least 1,000 times more energy to produce and transport, and only one in five plastic water bottles is recycled. To help reduce the tons of plastic that winds up […]

When Jake Leclerc was a preteen, he lived in a suburb of Munich, Germany, where his father’s job took the family for a few years. The experience sparked interests that have evolved into career goals for the York High School senior, who graduates this month. “It was a great experience,” Leclerc says. “We were able […]

It hasn’t been easy. They have toiled and excelled in the classroom. Struggled and triumphed on the playing field. Grappled with self-doubt and cultural differences to overcome significant challenges and succeed. This month, thousands of young Mainers are making one of life’s great transitions at high school graduations across the state. We asked area high […]