Teen parent students earn diplomas

WATERVILLE — Father’s Day will be extra special for two teens at The Teen Parent School Program at The Maine Children’s Home for Little Wanderers. The program recently announced the largest graduating class, including the first two male graduates, in the program’s 39-year history. On May 22, seven teen parents — Kevin Hardy, Wendy Joler, Chris Bilodeau, Leah Broulliet, Kelsey Marcia, Brianna Bernier and Morgan Stevens — were celebrated at the annual Recognition Night for completing classes at the Maine Children’s Home campus. Their high school diplomas were awarded as part of the Waterville High School graduation Thursday, at Colby College.

This year, seven teen parent students earned their high school diplomas, most with academic honors. Two of the seven students, Bilodeau and Hardy, were dedicated teen fathers who both had jobs while going to school full time, according to a news release. The class of 2013 also includes Marcia, a teen mother who recently represented the Mid-Maine Technical Center in the local skills competition and won the gold medal for medical math. She then went to the Skills USA state competition where she earned a bronze medal.

Of the seven graduates, four plan to go to college to pursue careers in the medical field, while three students are choosing to work a year before pursuing post-secondary education. The Maine Children’s Home also awarded three $1,000 scholarships to the graduating teen parent students and another graduating teen mother, Broulliet, was awarded an additional scholarship from the Waterville Woman’s Association for $1,500.

The presentation of the President’s Education Award to Marcia, was the highlight of Recognition Night.

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