LIVERMORE FALLS – Stephen Allen saw that he was No. 1 in his class after his first report card freshman year. He decided that’s where he wanted to stay in class rank. He did.
Allen of Livermore plans to have his valedictorian speech completed Tuesday morning. He’ll be giving it during graduation at 7 p.m. Saturday at Livermore Falls High School.
Allen has set his sights on becoming an electrical engineer, a field he’s been interested in for some time. He’ll go to the University of Maine in Orono next fall.
Allen is interested in engineering because he likes challenges and problem solving, and it’s a field in which he feels he’ll be “able to create something to help somebody else.”
He wants a job that he has to work at, one that doesn’t come easy, he said.
Engineering is math-based and “I like math.”
“I want to find a decent, steady job that will support myself and perhaps my family,” he said.
As a sideline, he would like to play in a band just to perform music. He plays the base guitar, electric guitar and he likes to sing. So far, he has only played in a “garage band.”
“Everybody thinks I’m the quiet kid in school,” he said. “I’ve been playing since sixth- or seventh-grade. I’ve always found music like a release from daily life.”
Math came easy. English wasn’t as easy for him.
“I think I’ve progressed,” he said. “My teachers said I was getting better. It’s really getting better for me to write.”
Becoming No. 1 among the other students in his class took hard work at home and good study habits, he said.
“I wanted to take those hard classes,” he said. “I wanted to challenge myself.
“I enjoyed the small-town atmosphere of the school and I could connect easier to my teachers as well as my peers.”
He credits his parents with helping him maintain his average, keeping his grades up and giving him the support he needed.
His message to his fellow graduates is to “always remain dedicated to what you love because that’s always something you can fall back on when times get tough,” Allen said.
He encourages underclassmen to work and study hard in their classes because “when you leave high school, you can prove that you are a hard and dedicated worker, which makes you a much more appealing individual in the real world.”
dperry@sunjournal.com
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