Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Principal Paul Bickford has announced that senior Ronan Brown is this year’s recipient of the 2026 MPA Principal’s Award.

The award recognizes a high school senior’s academic achievement and citizenship.

“Ronan is an outstanding scholar, an advocate for students, and highly involved in the life and leadership of this high school,” Bickford wrote in an email statement. “He has made a significant impact at OHCHS as a leader,” helping in myriad ways to make the school a better place for those in it. 

“Students see Ronan as a leader, whether in athletics or as someone to go to with an issue that impacts students.”

Six years ago as a sixth grader at Harrison Elementary School, Brown and classmate Aiden Baker were participating in Maine’s 2020 National History Day at the state level, having advanced during the regional competition.

They were handpicked by their teacher, Pauline Leadbetter, to represent the school in the competition. The pair focused on President Abraham Lincoln’s legacy of abolishing slavery during the Civil War.

“Ronan is very political in his approach,” Leadbetter said in 2020.

Six years later, Brown says his political philosophy continues to develop as part of his education. 

“I’ve changed a lot politically since then,” Brown said. “I’m taking advanced placement government courses to gain more knowledge to change the systems we currently face. I do a lot of political activism within the school and fight to make things better” for kids.

To that end, Brown is part of OHCHS’ Civil Rights, Leadership and Culture, Awareness, Respect and Education (CARE) teams, where his focus has been to to improve the experiences of minority students and marginalized groups in school.

As an officer on the CARE Team, he and his peers work to bring awareness to issues regarding equity and inclusion. Their work engages teachers and staff through professional development, and their peers during annual Respect Day workshops.  

“Everything has a political aspect,” Brown said. “In our AP Literature class we talk a lot about it through history. We’re reading ‘Hamlet,’ and there are political undertones to that, being the Protestant Reformation and the conflicts within the Denmark royal family.

“Education is inherently political because you learn and experience stuff about the world, and that ultimately shapes your view.”

Brown said as a young politician he leans left and considers himself a progressive, although he feels the Democratic party is not doing enough to address the needs of the nation.

“I consider myself a democratic socialist,” he said. “And for those who (dismiss) socialism, it’s about providing care for the people who need it. If you think that it’s a bad thing, that is your issue and I think you should take a look at yourself.”

In Brown’s role as part of OHCHS’ Leadership team, he is one of three student representatives working with the school’s department heads on issues impacting the school, like remote education planning.

Brown is also a three-sport athlete, competing on OHCHS’ Nordic skiing, outdoor track and cross country teams, being captain of the latter. Beyond school sports, he tries to spend “every ounce of my free time outdoors.”

And he means it. Recently, he took part in a 24-hour skimo (ski mountaineering) race at Mt. Abram in Greenwood. On March 14, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., he skied continuously, with a goal of making between 24 and 30 runs up and down the mountain. 

Despite staying out late the night before at a school dance, Brown finished with 26 laps.

He quipped that it was really hard, but it was a good warm-up for the next outdoor challenge: a 50-mile race this month.

It is no surprise to hear Brown say he plans a career in activism. He will start that chapter this fall as a political science major at Colby College in Waterville. 

From there, he plans to attend law school. His likely focus afterward will include time as a courtroom lawyer and as a lobbyist “for a good cause” in the environmental sector.

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