TURNER — SAD 52 Adult and Community Education celebrate one special and extremely motivated senior, Alex Boutot. Staff said Boutot not only accepted the challenges thrown at him during this stressful time, but embraced them. He exceeded expectations and completed all of his coursework requirements early, making him the first adult education high school diploma graduate from the SAD 52 Class of 2020.
Alex Boutot stands inside the house he and his father are building while he completed his diploma studies online. Boutot is the first SAD 52 Adult Education 2020 student to finish classes.
Boutot has had a positive attitude since he enrolled in the Adult Education Program last year. Teacher Melanie North noted, “Alex came to us with an incredibly positive attitude, and he has kept that optimistic and strong spirit throughout this entire journey.” Alex was the first student to lend a helping hand, whether that meant providing his classmates’ transportation to and from school or volunteering for community service activities offered through his civic engagement class, such as helping out with trash cleanup around Turner and participating in a homeless youth prevention forum through Rural Community Action Ministry. Boutot said, “I just think people should appreciate and embrace challenges because they can always teach you something, and make you a better person.”
Boutot was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade. He struggled a bit with reading and writing while growing up, but experiencing that made him a better student. He learned how important it is for him to take frequent breaks, to split up his lessons and major projects into mini-chunks and to reach out and ask for help when he needs it. That positive outlook and ability to persevere helped provide Boutot with some of the tools necessary to not just survive, but actually thrive, during this pandemic.
Boutot hopes to pursue welding, possibly at Bath Iron Works. He said, “You should try to make the best out of this situation because it is never happened before, and who knows if it’ll never happen again, but next year things will probably be back to normal, so use this crazy time to do some good.”
For more information on classes, call SAD 52 Adult and Community Education at 207-225-1010.
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