LEWISTON – Speaking to parents of eighth-graders on how to raise a successful high school student, Nadine Turcotte was quick to point out the credit for her son’s success goes to him.

This spring, Jared Turcotte is completing his senior year at Lewiston High. In the fall. he’ll go to the University of Maine on a scholarship. He’s a member of the National Honor Society, and has been cited by Sports Illustrated as the top football player in Maine.

He was the one willing to pay the price for achieving goals: not always hanging out with friends, putting in extra time to study, his mother said.

“He didn’t get good grades because he sat in class and it happened. He really worked hard,” she said at the Lewiston Middle School on Tuesday night, speaking to parents of next year’s freshmen.

On Tuesday, “Kick Off Day 2007,” an orientation for eighth-graders and their parents, was held to help begin the transition to high school. The day was sponsored by the Lewiston Education Foundation and Peter Geiger.

Growing up, his childhood was sometimes complicated, said his mother, an elementary teacher in Lewiston. He and his brothers were raised in a single-parent family. “Like everyone, our lives are far from perfect,” she said. “I’ve tried to discuss the circumstances behind those discussions openly and honestly.”

During those discussions, she’d pointed out that no one has life easy. Everyone has baggage. “But we must decide if that baggage will be an excuse for not reaching our potential, or if we will rise above it and become successful. “

Nadine said she’d never win parent of the year. Sometimes she’s been a parent “who yells and screams.” But she’s been there to offer support and advice. Her three sons have also had support from extended family members.

And along the way she instilled beliefs, she said.

“Jared did get constant messages from myself and my family that he can’t feel sorry for himself. That nothing comes without hard work. That he is accountable, not only to himself but to his family and his community,” she said.

Like a good mom, she gave him momisms.

“He heard the words, ‘Well, that might be OK if you were just dropped on this planet to live alone, but you were not. You were born into a family, you were born into a community, your choices have to be OK with them, too.’ He’s heard that so much that I just have to say, ‘and were you dropped onto this planet alone?'”

And she gave him encouraging momisms: “If another human being can do it, there’s no reason why you can’t. You just have to want it badly enough and be willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.”

Nadine said she was never into sports until Jared came along. Understanding how important sports was to him, “I made sure he was on teams, he got to practices and I showed up for most of the games.”

When her son was a freshmen, he told her, “‘Mom, I’m going to Boston College and I’m going for free. All I have to do is study hard and keep playing football.'”

That might not happen, she cautioned. He insisted it would.

“Well he’s not going to BC, but he’s going to play Division I football and he is going to college for free,” she said. “I guess setting his goals high and keeping his eye on the prize worked for him.”

Her advice to parents was to remind their sons and daughters that “They alone have control of what they become. If they want to be among the successful, they had better set high goals and keep their eye on the prize. Hard work and focus is the only way to get there. There are no shortcuts. If they get that – and I do think we’re just lucky if they do – success will surely follow.”

Jared got up to talk next, saying he wasn’t sure what else he could say.

“Thanks, mom,” one person in the audience suggested.

“Yeah. Thanks, mom,” he said.