Jeremy Read

PARIS — Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Class of 2012 valedictorian Jeremy Read believes worldwide issues such as depletion of energy resources and poor economic conditions can be addressed on a local level.

And that’s what this top OHCHS student and son of Kerry and John Read of Paris has been doing during his high school years as an avid community member participating in groups such as Transition Oxford Hills and Teens for Change.

“It seems at some point this is all going to come to a head,” he said of the issues that affect not only large and small nations but communities in Oxford Hills and tiny villages in Costa Rica, where he spent several weeks with his Spanish level III classmates during his sophomore year living and learning their culture.

The students worked, ate and slept with the villagers in the mountains of San Jose, becoming immersed in their culture.

“It was really eye-opening, not to mention really good for my Spanish,” he said.

So it’s no wonder that next fall Read will attend Middlebury College in Vermont where he will study intercultural relations, focusing on community development, language and other world-connecting issues.

Read said he may join the Peace Corps for a year or two after college and then come back to school to get into a master’s program. Later, Read said he sees himself working for a nongovernmental organization such as the World Wide Foundation or UNICEF.

An avid reader, Read has been involved in cross-country skiing, cross-country running, math team. speech and debate and plays the violin in the school orchestra and a string quartet at the high school. He has been a member of the Tri-M Music Society and was a three-sport athlete competing in cross-country, Nordic skiing and track and field. He also gives music and computer lessons.

And when he graduates on June 9, he will leave his fellow classmates with these words of wisdom, “Live fully, be happy. Don’t stress the little stuff and take charge of every moment as it happens.”

Logan Boucher

WEST PARIS — For Logan Boucher, the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Class of 2012 salutatorian, it’s all about music.

“For me I really like music,” said Boucher of West Paris, the son of Kristi Bancroft and Richard Boucher.

Boucher, who plays with two bands, Elysum and Fuzzy Creature, will be heading to the American University in Washington, D.C., to study audio technology and computer science, all with an eye for a future in music.

He hopes to combine both areas with a career in recording software or developing audio applications.

His bands have played at a number of gigs including Christmas for Teens benefit concert, the Rock Against Cystic Fibrosis Benefit Concert and West Paris Old Home Days. He taught himself to play guitar.

One of the most influential people in his life is his friend since seventh grade, Nick Lacasse of Oxford, who also graduates from OHCHS School on Saturday.

“He really influenced me getting me into music,” Boucher said.

An enthusiast of hard rock and heavy metal music, Boucher also enjoys classical music, singing in the high school chorus group, attending the chorus all-state competition and taking vocal lessons with local vocal teacher Mary Chapman.

“I try to be diverse. There’s so much out there in the world,” he said of the variety of music available to learn and listen to.

Boucher said his speech to his fellow graduates next week at graduation will be upbeat.

“You should not just dwell on negative feelings. You miss out on great things in life,” he said.

ldixon @sunjournal.com