Page 8 - The BellTower - Spring 2016

feature story
“The Pleasant Street Academy is an excellent early college program that prepared me well for a nursing program with very high standards and expectations.”
“I hope you all understand this is a very new program and you are the first high school students in Maine to take part in such an opportunity. Be patient with us – at times it will be like we are designing the plane while flying it.” In 2011, Scott Voisine, Dean of Community Education at the University
of Maine at Fort Kent shared these words with the first twenty students, all from Fort Kent Community High School, enrolled in the Pleasant Street Academy program. This part- nership between UMFK and its high school neighbor was the first of its kind in Maine and regardless of the time, research, and energy spent in developing this early college high school model, there was no guarantee of success.
The first students in the Pleasant Street Academy cohort didn’t just have to put up with the ins and outs of a brand new pro- gram, but everyone wanted to hear about their experience. There were many news- paper interviews, TV news stories, a visit by Governor Paul Lepage, and photo ops. One of those photo ops was the cover to the Summer/Fall 2011 edition of The Bell Tower.
Dean Voisine recruited three students
in the cohort to be the “poster children” for the program, and one of those seated in the front of the class in the photo was Brittany Theriault. She was a junior at Fort Kent high school who sometimes questioned if she
had what it took to make it in such a pro- gram since she always had to work hard to receive good grades. She knew it would be academically rigorous and challenging, but she also knew the designers of the program had put into place support structures, both at the high school and on campus, to help her. Nonetheless, as classes came into session, her response was, “Holy Cow! This is a lot of work!”
Clearly, Brittany did not shun away from the work. In fact, she quickly found her stride when it came to college learning; a stride that continued through high school graduation, summer study, and right up through the completion of her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in December 2015. That’s correct – do the math. Her participa- tion in the Pleasant St. Academy allowed her to graduate from high school with 27 college credits earned, and due to her tenacity and enrollment in summer courses, Brittany was able to receive her BSN Degree in two and one half years, a remarkable accomplishment.
“The Pleasant Street Academy is an excel- lent early college program that prepared me well for a nursing program with very high standards and expectations,” said Theriault. “I liked the fact that some of the early college classes were held at Community High School, where I could still stay in a more familiar environment, and at UMFK. Those on- campus classes helped me prepare to really be in college and know what college profes- sors expected. The Pleasant St. Academy gave us a sense of freedom normally not found in high school, and because we were a small cohort, we were able to support each other, motivate each other, and help each other out.”
Brittany also explains the Pleasant Street Academy experience gave her a leg up on other nursing program classmates when it came to college preparation. “Writing was more rigorous, we learned APA citation which is crucial in college, and while I sometimes doubted if I was as smart as other students who may be older than me, I soon came to see I was ready, and others recognized that
in me as well.”
In addition to academic preparedness
and an early introduction to college transi-
6 | The Bell Tower
PLEASANT STREET ACADEMY’S FIRST BACHELOR’S DEGREE RECIPIENT, BRITTANY THERIAULT, REFLECTS ON HER EXPERIENCE