Daughters of the American Revolution pay tribute to first WHS valedictorian

By Ed Pierce

Daughters of the American Revolution regents and members gathered at Smith Cemetery in Windham on Sunday to remember the life and accomplishments of Edith Pride Elliot, a lifelong resident who was valedictorian of the first graduating class at Windham High School in 1897.

Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution gather
at Smith Cemetery to honor the life and legacy of Windham's
Edith Pride Elliot on Sunday, Aug. 18. She was the
valedictorian of the first graduating class of Windham High
School and went on to found the DAR's Joshua Stevens
Chapter in St. Cloud, Florida, PHOTO BY ED PIERCE 

Elliot, who died at the age of 100 in 1977, was honored with a special engraved DAR designation on her headstone at the cemetery, a bouquet of flowers and graveside remarks by the regent of a DAR chapter in St. Cloud, Florida that she helped to found. DAR members from Maine, Vermont, and Florida attended the remembrance event.

Regent Julia Smythe of the DAR’s Elizabeth Wadsworth Chapter in Portland introduced members from the other states and said that Elliot deserves the attention because her legacy is far reaching and relevant years after her death.

“We who continue the work of the National Society and carry the responsibilities have been inspired by the lives of those whose tasks are completed, especially Edith Pride Elliot,” Smythe said.

She also recognized DAR Maine State Regent Elizabeth Calhoun who attended the event and is originally from Windham.

“This is a very special day because it brings together two special things,” Calhoun said. “First, it honors a fellow DAR member and second, the person we are honoring today is from the same town where I grew up.”

Calhoun attended Windham High School and graduated in 1990 before leaving Windham. While doing genealogical research about her family in 2003, she connected with the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania DAR chapter and has been a member ever since.

She said that she didn’t know Elliot when she lived here but was impressed to learn her story. Joining her at the event honoring Elliot was Calhoun's aunt, Patricia Jillson, a 1963 WHS graduate, who now lives in South Paris.

Edith Gertrude Pride was born June 24, 1876, and as a child helped at Windham’s first library which was founded by her mother and grandmother. She attended WHS when it opened in the red brick building that is now the Windham Historical Society Museum on Windham Center Road. She completed her high school studies ranked first overall academically in her class and was among the first group of students to graduate from the school.

In 1899, she married Orin Elliot, yet he tragically died seven months later from tuberculosis and she never remarried. Six years later she earned a teaching certificate and taught for four years at a one-room schoolhouse near her home at Windham Center.

She was a longtime member of the Crossroads Garden Club, the Helping Hand Club, The Windham Library Association, The Windham Republican Club, the Evangeline Chapter-Order of the Eastern Star and was a founding member of the Windham Historical Society. She attended every graduation ceremony and alumni banquet for WHS students through the 1970s.

Every winter Elliot would accompany her father to Saint Cloud, Florida until he passed away at the age of 95. She would continue to travel to St. Cloud each winter until she was 88. While in St. Cloud, she helped to organize a DAR chapter there.

That chapter’s regent, Kim Tennison, flew to Maine to attend the special recognition ceremony for Elliot, and was the guest speaker for the occasion.

Tennison said that when she became regent of the DAR’s St. Cloud chapter last summer, she looked at the first scrapbook of the St. Cloud Joshua Stevens Chapter and found notes, telegrams, letters and journals describing the beginnings of the chapter. In fact, Joshua Stevens was the patriot ancestor of Edith Elliot, born in Falmouth County, Massachusetts and he served as a lieutenant during the Revolutionary War.

“I sat down and poured over them a few hours at a time for days,” Tennison said. “I was especially fascinated by Edith’s handwritten journal she made. I saw a dedicated Daughter of the American Revolution and as I read, she let me accompany her into a time capsule as a DAR member in the 1950s, into a time when women wore hats and gloves anytime when in public and listened to their Sunday church service on the radio. I got a feeling for her servant’s heart, and had we existed at the same time, I would have loved to have been her friend.”

Reading that information and learning about Elliot’s life through a newspaper article in The Windham Eagle posted online prompted Tennison to research where Elliot was buried and she discovered that she did not have a DAR insignia on her grave marker.

According to Tennison, she was also moved by the fact that back in 1976, on Edith Pride Elliott’s 100th birthday, June 24 was proclaimed “Edith Elliot Day” by then Windham Town Manager David Miller and the Windham Town Council. In 1977, a special dedication sponsored by then State Rep. Bill Diamond and the 108th Maine Legislature paid tribute to Elliot for a century of contributions to the educational, cultural, political and charitable life of Windham. And only a week before her death in May 1977, the town and several local garden clubs designated a plot of ground next to the Windham Public Library on Windham Center Road as Elliot Park.

“I found that made me want to place a marker at Mrs. Elliot’s grave,” Tennison said. “It touched my heart that Edith Pride Elliot would have been involved with placing these markers as she continued her visits to St. Cloud until she was 88 in 1964.”

She said Elliot valued the members of the Joshua Stevens Chapter and she worked alongside them on projects focusing on patriotism, historic preservation and education such as presenting Good Citizen Awards and National Defense Awards to students and residents of the St. Cloud area.

“Now we have come full circle as we have the privilege to honor her in this same way,” Tennison said. “I will be forever grateful for all her contributions and endeavor that Joshua Stevens Chapter will carry on her legacy now and in the future.” <

Valedictorian aims to make difference through interaction with community

By Ed Pierce

Al Potter is confident that everyone, no matter who they are, can change the world and that we all possess the power we need inside ourselves to make a difference. As Windham High School’s Class of 2023 Valedictorian, Potter says he knows that life is so much more than academics and has strived to fill his life with activities, interests and pursuits to keep him grounded and connected to the community.

Windham High School's Class of 2023 Valedictorian 
Al Potter will attend Princeton university this fall to study
Astrophysical Science. He plans to become an astrophysicist
but remains closely connected to the community though a
variety of volunteer activities and interests.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE    

At the beginning of his high school experience, Potter struggled with just being himself, but realized that following his own path and being his own person, is the only path to success for him. He finished first academically in his class and will be attending Princeton University in the fall studying Astrophysical Science.

“At Princeton, I plan to continue immersing myself in all of my passions I discovered and developed as a WHS student,” Potter said. “I hope to be an astrophysicist who performs groundbreaking research on the most fundamental questions about our universe. I hope my efforts will somehow change the world. I have heard from younger students who ask me how they can be like me to get into an Ivy League school. The first thing I tell them is they won’t go anywhere trying to be anyone but themself, be yourself and be proud of who you are.”

To get to this point, Potter has filled every waking moment with activity. He’s an Eagle Scout, Class of 2023 president, RSU 14 School Board representative from Windham High School, a member of the school's Quiz Team, and works at a Memory Care Assisted Living Facility in Portland called Fallbrook Woods.

“I do not live a life with free time, I like to fill my life with everything I can,” Potter said. “Many of my classmates probably don’t know the breadth of the activities I am involved in and how challenging it can be to manage my time while still succeeding academically. I think many of my classmates assume I spend my whole life studying, when actually I am involved in so many different things, I spend a lot less time studying than I should. My time management skills are one of my greatest strengths. I manage to fill my life with so many different activities and responsibilities while still having time to excel at an intense course load.”

WELL-ROUNDED

In being so well-rounded, Potter has tried to stand out as someone who is passionate and highly involved in numerous activities while also contributing to each one in a deeply impactful and intimate way.

“It is this broad interaction in so many areas that has given me such a deep appreciation for community, opportunity, and perspective. My directive to be so vastly involved has provided me with a nuanced perspective on life, which has changed how I interact with those around me,” he said. “At Windham High School, I have worked to apply these passions in every segment of the community, becoming not just a student, but a scientist, writer, speaker, leader, technician, and more. It is my vast passionate interactions coupled with my ‘good human’ nature that I think teachers and school administrators most value in me. I think we should all strive to be good humans.”

His mother, Jennifer Potter, teaches sixth grade at Jordan Small Middle School and his father, Troy Potter, is a Certified Public Accountant at Scott Associate CPAs in Portland. His sister, Sophey Potter, is a rising senior at Manhattanville College in New York studying Musical Theater and is a WHS Class of 2020 graduate.

GRATEFUL

Looking back at his early days as a student in Raymond, Potter said he is grateful for every teacher he had in elementary and middle school.

“Unlike many students, I find that I have connected personally with every teacher over the last 13 years. They have all had unique impacts on my life,” he said. “Ms. Wiley, my kindergarten and first grade teacher, showed me to channel ecstatic energy into my passions and schoolwork, rather than disrupting the class. Ms. Spencer taught me the value of hard work. Ms. Baseler enriched my creativity after learning to explore it with Mr. Newcomb.”

While attending Windham High School Potter says that his favorites classes were a tie between AP Physics with Mr. Rathbun and AP Chemistry with Dr. Bizier.

“I mention both of these classes because they were fundamental to my career choice of Astrophysics,” he said. “I love Chemistry, but I do not want to be a Chemist focusing solely on the microscopic. I love Physics, but I love Chemistry too much to be a physicist. Astrophysics allows me to continue both these passions, researching the microscopic world and seeing how it applies to the macroscopic, our universe, solar system, and our reality. I enjoyed these classes so much because they gave me a taste of complex fascinating science concepts that I had not experienced in lower-level classes. I got to learn about electron geometries and quantum mechanics which were so cool and fascinating. It is the fascination from these classes that made me love them so much, aside from all the science puns.”

In graduating as Class of 2023 President and Valedictorian, he’s accomplished two of his dreams.

“I wanted to be a Raymond student who not only succeeded academically but connected and interacted well with the student body and community as a whole,” Potter said. “To be Valedictorian is a great honor to me personally. At Jordan-Small Middle School, I attended Gifted and Talented classes from first grade to eighth grade with Mr. Newcomb, but I never actually academically qualified for these classes. I was the ‘“not so gifted’ gifted as Mr. Newcomb now puts it. To be Valedictorian, the highest high school academic honor, after never being quite ‘up to par’ as a middle and elementary student, shows that being Valedictorian is more than being smart and doing well on tests. I am not the smartest student at Windham High, because, if I have learned anything from the last 13 years, we are all uniquely gifted in our own ways. My GPA doesn’t define my intelligence, it defines my test scores, which clearly don’t define me holistically. When I look at those around me, those with higher scores and those with lower scores, I still see people who are just like me: passionate, kind, and hardworking, all in their own way. I hope that as Valedictorian I represent someone who students can look up to and see that, yes hard work pays off, but your GPA, SAT Score, or even failing one class won't define you. You don’t need to be a genius to change the world, you just need to be like Isaac Newton and sit under an apple tree while thinking about the world uniquely.” <

2016 WHS graduate is top student and Valedictorian at UMaine

Sierra Yost

By Lorraine Glowczak

“I did it, Mom! I did it! But please don’t tell anyone.”

That was the humble plea of Sierra Yost, a 2016 Windham High School (WHS) graduate, during a recent phone conversation with her mother, Marla Pettinelli. Sierra had just discovered she was selected as the number one 2020 academic and Valedictorian student graduating at the University of Maine (UMaine) and called her mother to notify her.

The fact that Sierra is on the front page of today’s Windham Eagle newspaper is an indication that her mother, as well as Sierra’s father, Rick Yost, did not heed her pleas about this exciting news. But since the cat is out of the bag, we will share Sierra’s story despite her preferences for keeping this news on the down and low.

In alignment with her well-mannered personality, Sierra has honored her parents’ requests and took the time to speak with The Windham Eagle newspaper. She shared how the selection process for the top student works at UMaine. “There are 10 nominations,” she began. “Two top students are nominated from each college [there are five separate colleges in the UMaine system]. I was selected as one of the top students in the Department of Engineering. A Teachers’ Council of professors then select from the submitted essays of these 10 students. From there, they nominate the number one student and send it to the President for approval. I’m very happy that they selected me and that I was approved by the President.” Sierra’s degree is in Chemical Engineering.

Although both of her parents recognize her exceptional gift in academics, they are perhaps more
pleased with how she conducts herself and chooses to live her life. “Yes, it is true the Sierra is smart,” Rick stated about his daughter. “But there are a lot of smart students in the world. What makes Sierra stand out more is her determination. She works hard at everything she does, and she is where she is today, because she applies herself. She never gives up until she reaches her goals.”

Her determination and love of learning began at a very early age. Rick stated that when Sierra was just learning how to ski at the age of three, she had broken her leg. “This only made her more determined. She wanted to heal as quickly as possible so she could get back on the slopes to do a better job.”

Marla shared that Sierra loved to read and write at a young age, doing so by the age of four. “I think I may have been one of the only parents who was required to ask her child to put a book down and to go outside to play,” she laughed. As for writing, Marla explained that Sierra insisted on writing thank-you notes before she entered kindergarten. “One day she wanted to send a thank you card to someone so I gave her the card and crayons, expecting that she would draw the thank you. But she insisted on writing it.”

Sierra’s love of learning continued with a special interest and skill in the sciences, especially chemistry. When she was a student at WHS, she participated in the AP (Advanced Program) Chemistry curriculum. Her passion for chemistry and its affect within the world, however, began before she entered high school.

In fact, this is not the first time Sierra has received media attention. As a Windham Middle School
eighth-grade student, the motivated and innovative 14-year was a house-hold name in the Associated Press after watching the film, “Bag It”.

Briefly, “Bag It” explores the impact of plastic on marine life due to the fact that plastic never fully degrades - and when it is thrown ‘away,’ some of it finds its way into waterways and oceans, eventually killing marine animals that ingest it. The film also enlightens the viewer that plastic is making its way up the food chain and is consumed by humans as well. “Bag It” explains how plastic is made, sharing the fact that chemicals such as Bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates are added during the manufacturing process. The film states that scientists have overwhelming evidence that these and other chemicals are affecting humans - specifically babies in utero and children.

“When she learned how detrimental plastic bags were, she set out to make a change,” Marla said. “She spoke to the Windham Town Council to advocate for the elimination of plastic bags at local grocery stores. She prepared a Power Point Presentation and, wouldn’t you know it – there were technical difficulties and she couldn’t use it. But that didn’t stop her. She got out her notes and gave her presentation to the Council without missing a beat. They were pretty impressed.”

Sierra’s activism created media interest and her story hit the news. Her advocacy was highlighted in The Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald, Factory Direct Promos, The Blaze and many more Associated Press media outlets. She was also interviewed on Channel 13.

But Sierra never once mentioned this in her interview. Instead, she focused on her educational career, specifically the State of Maine University’s educational system and how it made a profound impact on her success during college. Although Sierra had many college options, she ultimately chose the
University of Maine due to the fact she received the UMaine Pulp and Paper Foundation Scholarship, which paid for all her education.

During the last two years of college, she participated in a co-op series which allowed her to apply her classroom knowledge in a real-world setting, working two terms at Onyx Specialty Paper located in Western Massachusetts.

As for school itself, Sierra is glad she chose UMaine. “Don’t knock your state school,” she advises future WHS graduates. “At first, I really didn’t want to attend UMaine, but I discovered I have received the best education possible. The faculty wants everyone to succeed and help you become qualified for the next step in your life.”

Sierra’s next step is obtaining her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. Although she is still deciding which school to attend, her top four colleges choices are: Clemson University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Pennsylvania and Penn State.

Whichever college she chooses, if the first 22 years of her life are any indication, she will succeed beyond measure.

“I am just going to sit back now and see where life takes her,” Marla said.

The community from where you got your start, Sierra, will be watching you, too. Thanks for allowing us to share your story, inspiring us to work hard at accomplishing our own dreams. Congratulations and good luck on your future endeavors.