We congratulate DJ Caissie and Connor Blanchard!

DJ won a place in my heart as a 2nd grade student who had a passion for hockey, a love for his big brother Joey and an unsurmountable respect for Dougie. Watching him grow through the years has been enjoyable! Having DJ as a nickname and a litter sister named Julia was just icing on the cake. He will continue to make his parents proud as he heads into the world in the Electrical Trade! We wish you the best DJ!

Connor has been entwined in my life since birth. Also the little brother to Joey with a passion for the sport of hockey. Connor was at as many recitals for his sisters as Dougie was for Julia. Additionally Connor has been a friend of Julia’s as they were classmates way back in the FitzGerald days. Connor will be continuing his education at Colby College and we wish him the best!

We are thankful for the parenting team of Kerrie & Tom Blanchard and Dennis & Amy Caissie who raised not only these two, three girls and of course Joey Caissie. We were honored when Joey agreed to deliver these awards to his brothers and are thankful he insisted on us being present.

Beginning with the class of 2022 we will be presenting this gift to a qualified student to assist them with their post-graduation plans.

We are going to require applicants write a short essay to be considered for this award in the future. We will ask them to take moment to think about a time in their life that a peer said something that made them pause, realize how special they were, or how something they were doing could be done a different way so that they made someone else feel special. Who made a difference in their your life, who set them in a different direction? We would love to hear about a peer as opposed to a teacher.

After Dougie died in 2016 we heard many stories of how he helped someone who was hurting, sad, lacked confidence or was just going through a tough time. In those moments he lifted so many people up, he knew what to say, how to gently tease out a laugh or smile and more importantly make them feel valued. We hear he stopped several people from taking their own lives or heading down very self-destructive paths. To this day we hear stories of how friends of his live a better life for having known him. WE will ask – Who was that person for you, or – could you have been that person for someone else? Chances are you made a huge impact on someone else’s life by just being supportive.