October | 2008 | McClelland Miscellanea

Is there life after high school?

Georgetown High graduate (2008) Nadjee Harrigan pictured here is finding out at Bridgton Academy in North Bridgton, Maine. He is spending the 2008-09 school year at the post-graduate academy.

I interviewed him recently about life there and he said that after several months on campus he is pleased with the way things are going both academically and athletically.

Nadjee began high school in Lawrence but switched to Georgetown for three years on the school choice program. “Georgetown is a smaller school and it’s close knit,” he explained. The teachers know the students better and there’s help available after school.”

Nadjee starred in football, indoor track, and lacrosse for the Royals and was a Cape Ann League All-Star for them and part of a 4×4 relay team that broke the CAL indoor league record.

Nadjee credits GHS guidance counselor Donna Scott with alerting him to Bridgton Academy. “I was uncertain about college and she suggested going to a prep school. She received packets from BA and gave them to me. After visiting here (Bridgton Academy) I knew it was a good fit for me.”

Academically, the approach has been different from high school. “Many of the class assignments here are long term but there are a lot of quizzes and assignments along the way so I can’t procrastinate.” Nadjee added that a school subject that hadn’t been a favorite in high school (history) had become his favorite because of the presentation at BA.

Athletically, Nadjee is currently part of the Wolverine football team.

“Nadjee has done a nice job for us, “explained BA football coach Rick Marcella. “He’s different from most of our players because he told us up front that he has no plan to play football in college. Almost everyone else on the team does. He told me that he just wanted to help the team and he has as a wide receiver.”

The talents of the athletes around him at BA have impressed the, 5’7”-160 pound, Nadjee. “Everyone here has some sort of all-star athletic past. You have to prove what you can do here and that has made me work hard.”

Nadjee is not only on the football team but also is practicing with the lacrosse team. (Lacrosse is played in the spring but practiced year round.) “I practice with the lacrosse team on Mondays and Wednesdays before football practice. I do the skill work with them but not the running.”

Lacrosse concentration will start when the football season ends. “I will be taking part in showcases where other colleges can see what I can do and get to know me.” Nadjee would like to end up playing lacrosse for a major college in either North Carolina or South Carolina.

Nadjee expects to major in journalism in college and would like to write sports or cover sports on radio or television when college is over.

He has won awards for his writing already and did an interview with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick at Regis College.

“I still have a lot of contact with friends at GHS,” said Nadjee. “I went home and saw the football team (his brother Tyran is a two-way starter) defeat Murdock.”

Currently, he covers football on the BA athletic website. Check it out.

(Appeared in the Nov5-Nov11 issue of The Town Common)

Okay, not really but after watching her going against Joe Biden in the vice presidential debates I could not help but think that she could be our daughter.

Her age (43) is right and I cannot help but imagine that Sarah and our own daughter are similar. If you have a daughter near that age, you know what I am talking about.

We raised them. We trained them. We hurt when they hurt and were happy when they were happy. We could not stop ourselves from bragging about them to anyone who would listen.

But suddenly they grew up and high school, dating, college, marriage, and children lessened our connection to them. We hoped and prayed that we had helped set in place a foundation that would help them as they built a life with less and less influence from us.

Now we look at them and see what they have become and think, “Wow!” Little seems to get the best of them and if it does, they know how to find solutions. They juggle a schedule that includes; a husband, kids, employment, and pets and still have enough left to be pleasant to be around.

Joe Biden (65) is the age of us retirees. In addition, like us, he can still talk a good game. However, let us be realistic, he has neither the energy of our daughters nor the practical problem-solving skills our daughters have developed.

Joe, and the rest of us of retiree age, can get an occasional burst of energy and we can solve an occasional problem or two if we can remember what the problem was by the time we solve it. It is folly for anyone of retiree age to think that he has more to offer than the likes of Sarah Palin.

Some folks thought that John McCain took a big risk when he added Sarah to his leadership team. I believe that most of us retirees, with daughters Sarah’s age, must respectfully disagree.

(Appeared in both The Bridgton News and Newburyport Daily News on October 9th.)