Published: 6/12/2021 3:33:29 PM
Merrimack Valley High School senior Eren Perrault, 18, knows a lot about resilience.
Perrault, who smiled ear-to-ear as he crossed the stage at the school’s commencement ceremony Saturday, has had his resilience tested for much of his teenage life, particularly since becoming unhoused his junior year of high school when his grandmother, who his family had been living with, passed away. The family, who had been “house hopping” between relatives since Perrault was in seventh grade, was suddenly divided – Perrault lived at a friend’s house while his brother stayed with a different friend and his sister and parents spent nights in the family car.
“School was definitely the more structured part of my life,” Perrault said. “There were certain places you had to be at certain times so it was pretty easy to keep that in its structure, and then my very chaotic personal life in its own area. When I was at school I was able to get away from whatever was going on in my personal life, and then when I was out of school I could focus on what was in my personal life.”
Perrault, who is transgender, has also had to navigate the challenges that come with transitioning as a high school student, having new pronouns for teachers and classmates to get used to, and having his chosen name be different from the legal name on his school documents.
“Getting people to respect me and acknowledge me as who I am was kind of difficult at first, but definitely better now,” Perrault said.
Amid the difficulty of life changes, Perrault says school – and especially art class – remained a consistent thing he could rely on. Drawing and painting at Merrimack Valley High and graphic design at the Concord Regional Technical Center, has been an source of joy for Perrault, who received honorable mention in the Scholastic Art Awards of New Hampshire two years in a row, this year for a portfolio collection titled “Realistically Abstract.” This year Perrault, who is a member of the National Art Honor Society, became Adobe certified in using Photoshop and Illustrator software.
Maintaining resilience in the face of challenge was the subject of many speeches at Merrimack Valley’s commencement ceremony Saturday, as many speakers brought up COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a lot from the class of 2021,” said graduating senior Claire Gordon, who delivered one of the student addresses. “After today, when we go off into the world, no matter which path we take, we are going to face countless hardships and disappointments. Now we are equipped with the skills to handle them. We have learned resilience.”
The ceremony, which was held outdoors on the high school’s athletic fields, felt like a return to normal after last year’s event, which was held in cars at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This year, the unmasked audience sat in bleachers or under white tents on either side of the field. The graduates, also unmasked, sat in rows of folding chairs in the center of the field.
Many of the commencement speakers mentioned the difficulty students faced doing school work amid COVID protocols.
“We could barely see each others’ faces any more, between the masks and the Google Meets where none of us wanted to turn on our cameras,” said graduating senior MacNeill Matthews, who also delivered a student address. “Senioritis kicked hard, and it was difficult to do work anyway, learning from our computers at home. It was hard to feel motivated with what we perceived as a ruined senior year. But even with those limits, we persevered.”
Social studies teacher Jeff Nielsen delivered the commencement address, and brought out surprise guest Ray Bailey, a former teacher who retired in 2020 after 36 years. Bailey encouraged students to follow their hearts while pursuing their future goals.
“Please remember to seek out and pursue your own happiness, whatever that may be,” Bailey said. “You deserve that in your life.”
After graduation, Perrault hopes to land a job at an art gallery, with an eventual goal of attending college and having his own freelance art and graphic design business.
“Even if it seems difficult, keep pushing through because you can do it, if you put the effort in,” Perrault said. “I feel like that was a big thing that my teachers and my friends around me helped me learn.”
0 Response to "Merrimack Valley grads: 'Keep pushing through because you can do it' - Concord Monitor"
Post a Comment