Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — With much pomp and circumstance, 95 Loring Job Corps Center students were presented with their diplomas in an exciting yet bittersweet ceremony on June 19. With an empty chair serving to honor his memory, the students mourned the loss of graduate Tremaine Newton of Bridgeport, Conn. who died the week before graduation in a car accident.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Though she was admittedly nervous, student speaker Larissa Andrade told her classmates that “the world is waiting for successful young people like us to take a hold of it and never look back.”
The graduates, receiving either their GED or high school diploma as well as additional certifications they have earned along the way, traveled from as far as Jacksonville, N.C. and as close as Limestone to be educated at the Loring Job Corps Center.
Student Government speaker Jessica Langlais, from Rhode Island, welcomed family and friends to the graduation and told them a bit about herself.
“I worked so hard and I can’t believe I’m standing here in front of you as the Student Government Association President,” she told speakers.
Langlais also mentioned how she was resistant to change when she first arrived at the center and she wanted to go home, something that was echoed by student speaker Larissa Andrade.
“My decision to come to Job Corps was based upon my goal to better myself and receive an education,” Andrade said, describing the beginning of her stay at the Loring Job Corps Center as an emotional rollercoaster ride. “I did not want to be here after I came, and had a negative attitude toward embracing new ideas and challenges. It is easy to want to change and more difficult to make the sacrifices that change may need,” she stated, acknowledging that she made many mistakes at first. “I came to realize that I had support from staff and support from my peers; there were occasions that I was most resistant to those that I would learn were trying to help me,” she added, “that was my turning point. I then learned to embrace change.”
The Loring Job Corps Center seemed to be a turning point for many students, including current Caribou resident Nelson Rosado.
“I was bumming it out just letting my life pretty much go by without doing anything, and one day I just decided to take a stand and make a difference,” Rosado said. “[The rules at the Loring Job Corps Center] can be kind of strict, but at the same time, it makes us succeed and it gets us on track because sometimes, you need a little bit of tough love in your life to get somewhere.”
Whether it was tough love or his own motivation, Rosado has just finished his first year at NMCC and is looking to finish his associate’s in business administration.
“I’m just going to keep striving for what I’ve been striving for- and that’s success,” he said.
While college is an appealing option to many students, others have chosen to take a different path toward success: Brian Vrieze of Caribou is one such student. While he wanted to graduate high school early, his previous public school wouldn’t allow him to do so.
“I just left and came up here because Job Corps told me [I could graduate early], so it worked out,” Vrieze said. He has been at the Loring Job Corps Center for just under six months earning his GED. “I plan to work for the rest of the summer and then I go to the Service in September,” he added. Vrieze hopes to be Airborne with the Army, stating that he’s not afraid of heights.
Vrieze is looking to serve a military career, and despite joining the military during a time of war, “I’m really not too worried about anything,” he said.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Guest speaker Christopher Kuhn, center director of the Penobscot Job Corps Academy, entertained as well as educated those who listened with a humorous speech, which made some in attendance laugh as much as it made them think.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Though graduation day is the culmination of effort and determination, the Loring Job Corps graduation was bittersweet for many students on June 19, as they celebrated their graduations while mourning the passing of their fellow graduate, Tremaine Newton of Bridgeport, Conn. who died the week before graduation in a car accident. An empty chair decorated with a flower and a tasseled cap stood in his memory during graduation.
