Madison Stahle has made her mark on Boothbay Region High School during the short year she's been here. Besides being a top ten honor student, she's been involved in several projects, including marketing the Coastal Comfort Chair built and sold in Henry “Chip” Schwehm's class, and acting in Mark Gorey's AP English award-winning Words With Shakespeare video. She also played some great tennis and was on the field hockey team.

“I've always summered here, but then my father was transferred here for his job. I was familiar with the place, and my mother graduated from here,” Stahle said. She believes one of her accomplishments at BRHS has been forming relationships with her new classmates. “Getting to know everybody as well as I have in the time I've been here, that's the biggest thing. I was worried about that,” she said.

Stahle was raised in Eatonton, Georgia, a town near Lake Oconee, a place she said is smaller than Boothbay Harbor. “I grew up on a farm with horses and dogs,” she said. She wanted to become a veterinarian, but then, she broke some bones. “I spent a lot of time with orthopedic surgeons, so I fell in love with medicine.” Currently, she's trying to decide which path to follow at the University of Maine in Orono, where she’ll major in biology. She will also be part of the honors program. She fell in love with the UMO campus immediately. “The first time I was there was for a field hockey game. The whole student section was full and everyone was having a good time.”

BRHS has provided her with a great support system, Stahle said. She particularly appreciated the help she received while applying for college. “Mrs. Erhard (Kerrin Erhard, BRHS's College Placement Coordinator) and the Guidance Office have been there through the whole process. This school has helped me so much,” said Stahle. Still, she will be happy to move on to a bigger place. “It will be a nice change,” she said.

This summer, she'll continue her job at Pier One Pizza in Boothbay Harbor. She's also going to try to fit in some traveling to visit friends in Georgia and family in Boston. The thing she'll miss most about Boothbay Harbor is her family's summer community at the end of Barter's Island, and being close to the water.

When asked what advice she would give to underclassmen, she said, “Do your best and try as hard as you can. Grades are important. It's stressful applying for college, so prepare as much as you can ahead of time, even in your freshman year.”

The senior quote she chose for the Class of 2017 yearbook was written by American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. It reads, “To be different in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

“That's been important to me wherever I go,” Stahle said.