Class of 2018 Is Prepared, Empowered
By Xavier Botana
At the Portland
Public Schools, our goal is to prepare and empower students for what comes
next. “Prepared” means students have the knowledge and skills they need to
succeed. “Empowered” means that they know what to do – that they have a plan.
I’m satisfied we’ve
met that goal with the Portland Public Schools Class of 2018.
This month, after
participating as superintendent in the commencement ceremonies of Portland,
Deering and Casco Bay High Schools, I feel confident our future is in good
hands with these 500 new graduates of Maine’s largest and most diverse school
district.
I know these
graduates are prepared because of their many accomplishments in academics and
sports, the millions of dollars in scholarships and grants they’ve received and
the approximately 260 colleges and universities to which they’ve been accepted.
Those include Bard, Bates, Bowdoin, Brown, Cornell, Loyola, Middlebury, Mount
Holyoke Northeastern, the Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design,
Skidmore, Smith, Temple, Tufts, and Vassar. Our students also plan to attend a
variety of Maine institutions, including Maine Maritime Academy, Maine College
of Art and our close partners, the University of Southern Maine and Southern
Maine Community College.
And, judging from
the impact these graduates have already made while still in high school, I have
no doubt that the Class of 2018 is empowered.
As just one
example, members of that class were among our students who made their voices
heard during the National School Walkout in March. They took a stand to call
for measures that keep students safe at school, limit access to weapons and
provide mental health care to those in need.
Also, Deering High
School Class of 2018 member Mulki Hagi, who won a prestigious Bezos Scholar
award that took her to the Aspen Ideas Festival last summer, organized and
oversaw a “Local Ideas Summit” this spring. The summit covered such topics as
gender expansiveness, domestic violence, Islamophobia and affordable housing.
Deering students
learned from each other on these topics, which are representative of the
difficulties we face as a nation. These difficulties will only be resolved
through the Kesho Wazo – Swahili for “tomorrow’s ideas” – of empowered young
people like our graduates.
Two other Deering
Class of 2018 members, Alex Fitzgerald and Izzy Smith, helped develop the
Portland Board of Public Education’s new Transgender and Gender Expansive
Students policy. As part of their work with the Deering Gender and Sexuality
Alliance (GSA), not only did they shape the policy, but they also helped us
train staff at every Portland public school. Deering’s GSA also led a
successful effort to allow students to wear whatever color graduation gown they
choose at graduation, independent of gender.
Another example was
at Casco Bay High School, where the Class of 2018 took what they learned in
social studies about the power of rhetoric to exercise their free speech
rights. On First Friday in May, they literally took to their soapboxes,
standing atop them in Monument Square to voice their beliefs and passions.
At Portland High
School, class members embraced their tradition and their diversity. They
weren’t content with the status quo and engaged with faculty around issues of
concern to them. Those conversations weren’t always easy, but they prompted us
to listen and reflect. Portland High School is a better school, and the
Portland Public Schools a better district, because of their efforts.
In short, it’s clear
that the Class of 2018 has a powerful voice that has already effected change.
I’m hopeful these graduates will continue to take to their soapboxes in the
next chapter of their lives.
Of course, students
don’t become prepared and empowered on their own. Portland Public Schools
administrators, teachers and other school staff have done a great job of
educating our graduates.
That includes not
only high school teachers and staff but those at our elementary and middle
schools too. They should take great pride each graduation season, because their
work at the lower levels is the bedrock of our graduates’ education.
I’ll conclude by
thanking Portland voters for resoundingly approving our $110.6 million FY2019 budget
on June 12. We are deeply grateful to the Portland community’s consistent
commitment to quality education for all our students.
