Winnisquam's Top 10 graduate with hands ready to help others

TILTON — The top academic graduates of Winnisquam Regional High School see a world in need of help, and they are there for it.

Elizabeth Boucher of Northfield is heading to Simmons University in Boston to study social work.

“I’ve struggled with mental health for my entire life, if I can make even a little bit of difference for someone else, it would mean a great deal to me,” Boucher said. She picked social work because of the variety of circumstances it could open to her, but at this point she’s intending to become a therapist, perhaps one who works in a hospital setting.

“The teachers here have been incredibly helpful in inspiring students,” Boucher said about Winnisquam. She specifically mentioned English teacher Colleen Mulligan and art teacher Eric O’Neil. “They were a very important part of my time here, a very influential part of my time here,” Boucher said.

Emma Davidson of Northfield, valedictorian of the class of 2025, is heading to the University of New Hampshire in Durham to study animal science, environmental conservation and sustainability. She said she was bit by the farming bug through her participation with her local 4H club, then Future Farmers of America, which “helped expose me to agriculture and other fields I can go into.”

She said she decided on agricultural studies after attending the World Dairy Conference and Expo in Wisconsin, and saw the leading edge of agricultural technology.

Davidson said she wanted people to know that at Winnisquam, “We have an amazing career-technical education center that’s recently renovated,” and can help students discover a hidden passion, as it did for her.

Brendan Goodwin of Sanbornton is already well on his way to his intended career as a firefighter. He is a call member of his local fire department, and is already attending EMT classes. He will continue his studies in fire science at Lakes Region Community College.

Goodwin said he wanted to become a firefighter when he was young, then began looking at other options. When his older brother entered the fire service, Goodwin realized he had it right when he was a boy.

“It’s being able to help people when they are at their worst,” Goodwin said about being a first responder. “They call 911 when it's their worst day.”

Goodwin was a three-sport athlete, focusing on soccer, indoor track and spring track for most of his time at Winnisquam. He somehow managed to participate in five sports last year, as a kicker on the football team and playing hockey in between indoor track meets.

Beni Griffin, a Northfield resident and the class salutatorian, is also heading to UNH, where she will study political science and economics, as well as French.

“I’ve always been interested in leadership and community service,” Griffin said. She said she’s had multiple opportunities at Winnisquam to grow her leadership skills — she’s her class president — and she is thinking about going to law school after her undergraduate studies are completed.

“I want to get into advocacy work, work as a public defender, work with communities and help people as much as I can,” Griffin said.

Shayla Jordan of Sanbornton will be joining the caravan to Durham, as she’ll be studying health science at UNH this fall.

“I made that choice over the summer, when applying for colleges, that was the major that most interests me,” Jordan said. She said she likes the wide range of careers she could join with that training.

“There’s a lot of different things I could do with that major,” such as being a pharmacist, or maybe a nurse practitioner. “I’m going to see where college takes me,” she said.

Jordan was on the cheerleading team, ran track and played volleyball.

“My time at Winnisquam helped me become more independent and adapt to different environments.”

Makenne Kane of Northfield is off to UNH this fall, where she hasn’t yet picked a major, but has committed to joining the school’s Division I cheer team.

“I’ve been cheerleading since I was 6,” said Kane, who fills the roll of a flyer, the team member who gets launched into the air to delight the crowd. “I’ve always had a passion for it, I like being in the air. It’s nice to show off in a way, cheerleading has taught me a lot of drive and confidence, and a lot of leadership.”

Though she is undecided in her major, she’s interested in learning more about radiology, as she likes the thought of helping people in the medical space. Whatever path she chooses, she said her time in high school has prepared her to follow it.

“Winnisquam has taught me to push myself a lot,” Kane said. “I’ve taught myself to push myself to be as much as I can be.”

Claire Langevin of Tilton is heading to Regis College in Massachusetts to study in a pre-dental program.

“I think that the dental field is the best combination of medical science and art,” Langevin said.

She has a family history in medicine, as a grandmother was a nurse and a great-grandmother was a podiatrist. She is interested in dentistry because oral health is important for overall health, yet there are many choices made in dental offices on aesthetics as well.

Langevin said she’d like to promote access to oral health, particularly in rural areas.

“I’d like to be able to work at a hospital, I also want to get a doctorate in dental medicine,” she said, and operate her own practice one day.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” Langevin said of Winnisquam, noting she was homeschooled for the first part of her education. Joining the high school community, she said, “was better than I could have imagined.”

Leah Morrison of Sanbornton will be following in the footsteps of her older brothers by matriculating to Brigham Young University in Idaho, where she will study public relations and advertising, a major she landed on fairly recently.

“I had no idea what I was going to do at the beginning of the year. I took an online advertising class and I really liked it,” she said, explaining she felt a spark with that subject she hadn’t felt in any other classes.

Morrison works at Dairy Queen, said she made a lot of friends at Winnisquam, and is excited about what she might do with her college degree.

“I’m hoping that I’ll do public relations for a small business, or do sports marketing,” Morrison said.

David Swain, also of Sanbornton, is taking a year to complete a church mission.

“I’m going to first go to a missionary training center in Mexico, then I’m going to fly to Denver, Colorado, and will serve the Spanish-speaking community there, spread the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”

After his mission, Swain plans to attend one of the Brigham Young universities, where he will likely study engineering.

Swain isn’t sure what he’ll decide on for a vocation, but he has a good idea of what he’d like to be as an adult.

“I want to be the best person I can be, I want to further my relationship with Jesus Christ, and to be a good provider for my future family,” Swain said. About his time at Winnisquam, Swain said, “I enjoyed being here, in the end I learned a lot and I’m grateful for the time I spent here.”

Becca Wittenberg is another UNH-bound graduate. She will be studying engineering, something she determined thanks to a chance meeting. Wittenberg, who lives in Tilton, works at the Belmont Early Learning Center, and a parent she met there works as an engineer for the U.S. Forest Service. Wittenberg ended up shadowing her, and getting to know several other USFS engineers as well.

“Everything in there was really cool,” she said, adding she thought it would be rewarding to see the results of her work helping people to navigate the landscape.

In her first year, Wittenberg said she just wanted to get lost in the crowd of students. However, she grew to have a taste for leadership, and said she’s thankful for the opportunities she’s had to be a leader in her school. She’s currently president of National Honors Society and vice president of her class.

“Everything to do with that, I’ve had so much fun with,” Wittenberg said, “the fundraisers, being a voice for the class, has been really cool.”