Palmer Academy Class of 2011 Graduates (with Video)

The five students sit at the front of the gym at the Palmer School, and they smile. They smile a lot. They smile broadly, with open happiness and unabashed joy.

There’s more riding on this graduation than on many graduations. These kids were at the edge, about to step off the academic cliff, and the Palmer School helped to bring them back.

For these five students, graduation is a true achievement.

Josh Mattia, Darnell Dixon, John Hills, Sean McMahon and Virginia Witherspoon sit in folding chairs at the front of the gym at Palmer, while about 100 family members and friends – some holding signs of support – gather to witness a ceremony that marks a true change

Mattia had “screwed up academically” in his freshman and sophomore years. He was cutting classes, not applying himself, not doing the work.

He ended up at Palmer, and there, one day, it “just began finally clicking,” Mattia says. He realized “you need to do something with your life.”

His family is moving to Louisiana, and when he gets there, he is going to take the next step, and look for a community college where he can continue his education.

About 30 students attend the school, according to the website. Its purpose is to help kids who are failing in the mainstream high school to stay in school, learn and graduate, “while guiding students to become accountable for their behavior.”

There’s a cheering section at the ceremony for Witherspoon. Four friends from Groton, Elimar Rivera, Tiffany Royster, Sherrice Giles and Louis Trehy, have come to support Witherspoon and to cheer for her.

“She makes such quick friends,” Trehy says. “And all her friends are long-term.”

Giles says Witherspoon “loves school” now. Trehy says he tried to get her to skip school a few times this year, and she refused. It means too much to her now.

Sheila Reagan, the principal, says that she feels like the graduating seniors are her children, that she’s gotten through a tough stretch with them and can now celebrate.

Dixon celebrates, too, smiling broadly throughout the ceremony. He wins prize after prize, the Math Perseverance prize, the Bike Assembly Skills prize, the School Supported Employment award. He has come a long way. Through the school-supported employment program, he’s been working at the Murphy School, and they want him for the summer.

His sister, Linessa Daniels, grins happily after the ceremony. “I am very, very proud,” she says, and it shows.

John Hills wins the science prize, and the award for success in a new program. He, too, smiles throughout the ceremony, listening intently and applauding his classmates and the others at the school who have won prizes.

It is the time for that, for recognizing achievement, for acknowledging the small steps that have become journeys.

Sean McMahon is heading to Three Rivers Community College after the summer. He already has a summer job, thanks in part to the school-supported employment program, which helped him get a job at Tri-Town Foods. He is so valued there that they’ve hired him.

Superintendent Pamela Aubin, and School Board Chairman Dave Rowley rise to hand over the diplomas. With only five, the ceremony is short. And then, the Palmer Academy Class of 2011 moves the tassels on their mortarboards from right to left, and the crowd starts cheering, and as graduates, the class of 2011 moves out into the afternoon of a brand-new day.

For a complete list of the awards Palmer Academy gave on Friday, click here.