Kaelee Miller (left) of Andover was recognized, along with her teacher-mentor, Linda Cote, as an example of  “complete success” in the Greater Lawrence Technical School Mentoring Program, now in its 12th year. Together the pair has formed a solid relationship that has helped Kaelee grow to become a more confident and serious student.
 
Kaelee is a college-bound senior who has made significant strides during four years at Greater Lawrence Technical School. She majored in Allied Health, developed strong career goals, and became an active school citizen and an involved volunteer for her church.
 
Philip Youngclaus, guidance counselor who leads the program, presented gifts to both the mentor and her student at an annual luncheon on May 24, to which all 96 mentored students and their staff mentors were invited. In announcing the honor, Mr. Youngclaus quoted Kaelee as telling him that she was “proud to have a mentor who pushed me and helped me realize I could go to college.” 

Mrs. Cote said that Kaelee was “an excellent student who always presented herself in a first class fashion.”  

These kudos may have seemed unlikely as Kaelee began her high school years, however. Her freshman year was turbulent. “It was my first year in foster care, and I was not as focused and goal-oriented,” she recalls, even though she always had wanted to become a nurse. She got C’s and occasionally D’s on her report card.   Today, Kaelee proudly refers to her guardians Elizabeth and Elmer Deming as parents, and along with Mrs. Cote, credits them with her turnaround. This now goal-oriented young woman, says the Demings,  “pushed me and helped me realize that real life goes on.” She has gone from low grades to making the honor roll every quarter since her junior year.
 
Through SkillsUSA-VICA membership and competition, Kaelee won a silver medal at the 2003 district contest in the Nursing Assistant category, and was a member of the Community Service team that captured a state gold medal in 2002. She also won awards at the fall leadership events of SkillsUSA-VICA, and played volleyball for GLTS for a year. Kaelee teaches Sunday School to third and fourth grade children, attends youth group, teaches a mime class, participates in a praise and worship team and even traveled to New York’s inner city neighborhoods last summer on a mission trip, all through the Salvation Army. She looks forward to a mission trip to Haiti next winter.  

College Scholarship
Kaelee was recently awarded the Presidential Scholarship from Northern Essex Community College. The scholarship will absorb all of Kaelee’s education costs. After earning an associate’s degree at NECC, Kaelee plans to attend a four-year college to earn her bachelor’s in nursing. At the Allied Health Program’s Senior Certification Ceremony on June 8, Kaelee also received the “Career Award” as the outstanding senior in her chosen career area.  

Greater Lawrence’s Allied Health program has given her many specific skills and introduced her to health care for all ages, through clinical experiences that are part of the program, Kaelee notes. One of the things she values most about her education is “through the experience with people from young children to elderly geriatrics, I learned to look at a person for the whole person and found each was more than they first appeared.”   “Kaelee is a worker and has good, strong ethics, which is paramount in the health care industry,” said mentor Linda Cote, department chair for the Allied Health program, as well as a SkillsUSA-VICA advisor at Greater Lawrence. The pair got to know each other best through Skills USA-VICA. “Over the years, she has personified perseverance with her personal life and grades,” Mrs. Cote said with pride.
 
When asked what type of nurse she would like to be, Kaelee smiled and listed, “trauma nurse, operating nurse, psych nurse and missionary nurse.” Then she added confidently, “I want to do them all, and I will.”   Twelve years ago, the mentor program was created at Greater Lawrence Technical School to assist students struggling with personal problems related to homework or home life. The program was designed to build relationships between students and faculty and help students succeed. As the program expanded, it grew to include other students who also could benefit from a mentor through motivation and encouragement.

Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly Publication. All Contents (C) 2004, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We distribute in Andover, North Andover, Methuen, Haverhill, Lowell and Lawrence.
To download this month's edition click here (July Edition)