North Haven Arts and Enrichment hosted the 7th annual graduate forum this year on Jan. 4 at Waterman’s Community Center. High school students and teachers attended the hour and a half long meeting run by recent graduates of North Haven Community School (NHCS). Jacqueline Curtis (`03) and Mina Bartovics (`03). Laura Barrett(`04), Jamie Lane (`05), Mandy Lantagne (`02), Ryan Lantagne (`04) and Elizabeth Lovell (`03) joined them to share their experiences in life after high school.
Seated in a large circle in Waterman’s Community Room, the graduates were interspersed among current NHCS students. Teachers sat outside the circle entirely; Bartovics and Curtis were trying to avoid any and all pedantic airs.
The forum is designed to be a lateral exchange of ideas, and the graduates sought a format that would reinforce such a quality. The forum is held each winter just after the new year in order to catch recent grads who are home for the holidays. It is a way for current NHCS students to question their former and future peers about the tough choices facing them after graduation.
Casual polls of late have shown that most NHCS students are interested in some form of post-secondary education. Seventeen of 21 graduates in the past four years are currently attending a four year college. Others are working. Ryan Lantagne, for example, said, “I like to be working. So, for me, college wasn’t the best choice right now. I’ll get more out of it when I go back knowing more what I want to pursue.”
In order to prime the conversational pump, graduates shared where they are right now in their experiences after life on island and with NHCS. Curtis mentioned that one of the biggest challenges of the first year isn’t academic. Rather, the challenge is getting used to life off island.
“But,” she said, “I wouldn’t rule out going to a school that you have to fly to. Whether it’s a five hour drive or a plane ride, it’s the same thing. You’re off island and into that new community.”
Other graduates nod in recognition.