HOULTON, Maine — Community members and family packed the Military Street Baptist Church on Sunday to honor the work of Greater Houlton Christian Academy’s 2025 graduates.
The Class of 2025 — Abigail Grace Duff and Addison Eileen Watson — has a long list of accomplishments in their more than 12 years at the Houlton school, including a February mission trip to the Dominican Republic.
And during the 33rd commencement exercises, teachers and school leaders detailed their service to the local and international community.
In February, the young women, along with others from the school, traveled to Colegio Evangélico Moriah, a Christian school on the edge of San Pedro de Macorís. The school that began under tarps in an alley now serves more than 400 Haitian and Dominican children from pre-K to grade 12.
As part of their work, the students helped build an addition to their school, said Valedictorian Watson.
“It was humbling to see the sheer joy they worshipped with,” Watson said. “My own faith was strengthened more than I could have ever imagined.”
Commencement speaker Rev. Christopher Cain, a Bible study teacher at the school and Pastor of the United Baptist Church of Littleton, said he is proud of their mission work.
Cain talked about a divided world and how finding their own identity in their faith will guide them through difficult times.
Watson, of Smyrna Mills, is a three-year member of the National Honor Society and has received recognition by the Association of Christian Schools International as a eistinguished Christian high school student for service and leadership.
She served as editor of the school newspaper for one year and is a 2025 Maine Principal’s Award recipient. She was awarded a $2,000 renewable George and Annie Knox Scholarship for her doctorate of physical therapy studies at Husson University.
Salutatorian Duff, of Hodgdon, has received honor roll awards and been recognized for her Christian character, said Robert Albers, head of the school.
She has been on mission trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic and is a member of the Hodgdon Fire Department. Duff is currently employed as a certified nursing assistant at Madigan Estates and will attend Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle, where she will pursue an associate degree in nursing.
Duff, who has been at the GHCA since pre-kindergarten, summed up their experience.
“It’s been a wild ride here at Greater Houlton Christian Academy,” said Duff. “We’ve experienced a lot together, chapels, snow days, the mask era, senior privileges two years in a row and the caring and giving of teachers and classmates. It’s a place where we’ve learned to think deeply, live boldly and trust God through every season.”
