Maddie Poland packed a bunch of professional experience into her three years in the Oxford Hills Technical School’s early childhood development program.

College looks like it will be just as challenging for the tech school’s 2026 Student of the Year. She is set to head to Husson University in Bangor for a dual degree program, and plans to stay there until she has undergraduate degrees in psychology and science and a doctorate in occupational therapy.

Poland discovered her passion for special needs as a high school junior.

“In my second year in early childhood we got to do internships,” she said, “and I chose my first internship to be in a resource room, working in special ed. I loved it.

“Then my second placement was in a third-grade classroom, which confirmed my preference for special ed,” she added.

As she gained educator proficiencies through internships Poland developed supervisory and management skills through her tech school studies. During senior year she served in an assistant director’s role among her classmates, facilitating daily staff meetings and providing feedback to first-year students of early childhood development.

She also led operational tasks, which included parental communications of the 16 children in the tech school’s preschool program, and menu/nutrition planning.

“Maddie is already a teacher, of both the bigs (peers) and littles (preschool students),” Early Childhood Development instructor Debbie LaFrance said. “She is responsible and dedicated, definitely just a hardworking, well-rounded student.

“She knows what needs to be done. We’d love a way to keep her back as a fifth-year student!”

Poland said her mother, Oxford Hills Middle School Assistant Principal Torrey Poland, has been her biggest inspiration.

“When I was younger, my mother sometimes took me along to her math classes,” she said. “I just always loved watching her teach her students. And when I saw the tech school has early childhood program, I knew that’s where I wanted to go.”

She said her mind was set on special education after speaking with her mother, LaFrance and tech school instructor Emily Berry.

“I feel a calling to help children with special needs,” she said.

Husson University has the educational setting and programs that can propel Poland to a doctorate degree and career as an occupational therapist, making life better for children with medical conditions like cerebral palsy, she said.

“It’s therapy with very specialized instruction and care,” Poland said. “I’m ready for it!”

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