As she graduates from Granite Falls High School, Stephanie Burnett-Hart is thankful that she grew up without running water, electricity or spending money.
Jennifer Buchanan/ The Herald
Burnett-Hart is one of thousands of high school seniors and community college students in Snohomish County who are graduating this month. Some are going on to prestigious universities, others are joining the work force, and still others don’t know what they will do.
Among the faces beneath the tasseled caps are a political junkie bound for Harvard University, a state champion machinist, and Burnett-Hart, a young woman ready to explore the world.
Until recently, Burnett-Hart, 18, lived in a small cabin with a tarp-covered plywood roof. Her family lived off disability checks. She will be the first in her immediate family to attend college.
She learned early on how to cook, chop wood and haul water.
Burnett-Hart did not attend a formal school until the eighth grade. Although she was home-schooled as a child, there was no study regimen or regular instruction.
She was bright and inquisitive and pored over the shelves of books in the family home. As a sophomore, she passed all four sections of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. She has a 3.4 grade-point average.
There were challenges along the way. When she was 9, her mother had major neck surgery and Burnett-Hart spent the year tending to her needs, as well as cooking and cleaning for the rest of the family.
Her mother died five years later.
“From the age of about 14, I have pretty much raised myself,” she said. “By being independent for so long, I have learned valuable lessons.”
Knowing she can get by on so little has aided her enormously as she prepares to attend a small Christian college in Kansas to become a missionary. She is willing to go anywhere in the world.
“I think it’s helped me for the future,” she said. “I love God. I believe he has pulled me toward the missionary field.”
George McNeil
In the white fog of a brain hemorrhage, George McNeil felt his college dreams slipping away with his memory – after he had come so close after so long.
As one of 17 siblings, money was never in big supply in McNeil’s family.
“We were raised to go to high school, you graduate, get a job, fall in love, get married, have kids and live happily ever after,” he said.
McNeil is a 1969 graduate of Snohomish High School, where he met his wife of 34 years, Marcia. The couple have two children and dote on their two grandchildren. McNeil held top manager positions in manufacturing, but he always wanted to learn more.
After attending Everett Community College on and off for three decades – amassing more than 300 credits – McNeil was persuaded in 2001 to finally get his associate’s degree. At a math instructor’s urging, he enrolled at the University of Washington, Bothell, intent on earning a bachelor’s degree.
Two weeks into classes as he sat at his computer working on a class assignment, the pain struck.
After weeks of hospital care and recuperation at home, McNeil went to withdraw from the university. The hemorrhage had affected his short-term memory and slowed his comprehension by half.
UW staff wouldn’t let him quit. They found financial aid and provided academic support, including extra time to take tests.
Nervous and scared, McNeil studied harder. “I was sitting in class when I got my first test back, and the tears just started rolling down.” He was doing it.
Today, McNeil, 54, will accept his bachelor’s degree in business administration. He also is the Chancellor’s Medalist, honoring graduates whose commitment has proved inspirational.
Carrie Duffy
“When I dream, I dream that I can walk,” said Carrie Duffy, 18. “I’m walking around like an everyday person. It’s weird.”
Duffy, who has cerebral palsy, has never taken a step. But she’s not angry about it.
“It’s something that’s not going to change for me, so I’ve learned it’s not something to dwell over or get upset about. You adapt and move on like everybody else,” she said.
Rolling with life is something Duffy is good at. “I’m not really into the stress. I’m what they call a major laid-back procrastinator type,” she said.
She was picked by teachers as Snohomish High School’s Panther of the year for her undaunted spirit, love of life and compassion for others.
Duffy next fall will attend Shoreline Community College and study audio productions. Her passion is music.
“I’ve always had an ear for music. It’s like second nature to me,” she said. “I listen to everything from the Beatles to hip-hop – whatever is on the radio, except country and opera.”
Her ultimate plan is to move to Hollywood and attend the Musician’s Institute. She hopes to become a big-time producer, “making a name for myself.”
Duffy said she’s ready to graduate. Still, she will miss the friends she’s made and going to basketball and football games.
She advises teens just entering high school to savor the moments.
“Make the best of it in every way you can. I know it sounds so cliche. But looking back, it’s all gone by so fast,” she said.
Steven Johnston
There was no clue in the subject line, only the words “Early action decision.”
Steven Johnston was alone Dec. 14 when he opened the e-mail from Harvard University, the college of his dreams from an early age.
After a deep breath and a punch of the “enter” key, the Kamiak High School senior learned he had been accepted into one of the world’s most prestigious universities.
“It’s so surreal,” he said. “You visualize something for a long time, and it actually ends up being real. The collision of fantasy and reality is an odd kind of feeling.”
Johnston had a 3.98 grade-point average with a tough academic load and an impressive 1550 on his Scholastic Aptitude Tests. But he knew other applicants had perfect grades or even higher test scores.
Johnston, 18, can’t help but believe his passion for politics might have swayed the admissions panel.
By age 5, he was enlisting kindergarten classmates to form a presidential cabinet. He volunteered for his first congressional campaign in the seventh grade and has worked on several more since then. Last March, Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser, during a visit to Washington state put his hand on Johnston’s shoulder and said, “Steven, why don’t you come in and sit in on this meeting with us?”
Johnston will study government at Harvard and wants to enter politics, perhaps in a behind-the-scenes capacity.
For now, he is finishing up as Kamiak’s senior class president.
“Sometimes it seems you are more of a party planner than a politician, and that’s probably a good thing,” he said. “This is high school. You want to enjoy being a kid while you can.”
Joseph Alonso
Joseph Alonso works 40 hours a week in a metal shop and owns four cars. Two are actually road-worthy.
The Marysville-Pilchuck High School senior has managed to earn a 3.9 grade-point average even though he works until 11 p.m. at a Mukilteo metal shop.
Alonso, 18, said there should be a balance between learning from books and using your hands. That’s why he splits time between Marysville-Pilchuck and the Sno-Isle Skills Center in south Everett, where he has become a two-time state champion in precision machining. He will compete for the national championship in Kansas City, Mo., later this month.
“As a society, we are losing a lot of our hands-on, common-sense and problem-solving skills,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I had a foundation when I got out of school.”
To Alonso, English, auto mechanics, math, chemistry and culinary arts are all connected.
When his parents moved away earlier this year, he stayed behind. His machining teacher at Sno-Isle has provided a roof over Alonso’s head, but the senior is largely self-reliant. He learned long ago the value of a dollar and not to ask his mother for money to go to the movies.
He plans to go to college and rely on his wits and work ethic to get by. “I really want to be an entrepreneur,” he said.
Caitlin Craggs and Matt Farler
Caitlin Craggs and Matt Farler have been friends for three years, but they’ve grown closer since Farler moved to Craggs’ neighborhood last year.
“It was a great move, I must say,” Farler said.
“Yeah, he’s closer to me so he can bug me more often,” Craggs shot back.
The graduating seniors from Lake Stevens High share more than barbs. Both are heading to top film schools.
Farler, 18, is off to New York University; Craggs, 17, will attend the University of Southern California.
Performing arts has long been a part of Craggs’ life; both of his parents are actors. “I’ll probably still starve, but I have to give it a try. I love movies,” she said.
Farler said he fell into film and is now passionate about it. “What better way to express yourself?”
Both have been solid students. Along with his high school diploma, Farler earned his associate’s degree from Everett Community College through Running Start. Craggs has a string of A’s that includes tough college-in-the-high-school courses.
The two see themselves in different places in 10 years.
Farler would like to make piercing documentaries. He noted that “Citizen Kane” opened when director Orson Welles was only 27 years old. “So if I follow his route, I could make the greatest film of all time by then.”
Craggs plans to take her musical talents and craft film scores, while dreaming of a small film project that creates a big buzz. “It’d be cool to be the next ‘Napoleon Dynamite,’” she said.
She turned to Farler.
“Do you think we’ll ever work together?”
“I hope not,” he quipped.
Jessica Atkins
When Jessica Atkins accepts her diploma on Saturday, she will be doing it in part for the curly-haired toddler watching from daddy’s lap in the crowd.
The fifth-year Cascade High School senior doesn’t regret having her daughter, Veronika, now 2. And she did what it took to earn her diploma – balancing motherhood and a part-time job with her studies.
“I didn’t want Veronika to think it was her fault I didn’t graduate,” said Atkins, 19. “It was my choice to get pregnant … I think by having her, it made me want to graduate even more, just to prove I could do it – and to do it for her.”
Atkins found out she was pregnant the summer after her sophomore year. She decided to enroll in Cascade’s contract learning program, which would allow her to do much of her schoolwork at home on a flexible schedule. “I was so determined,” she said.
During her pregnancy – even at nine months – she was walking 45 minutes to school each day.
The program included a teen parenting class. Atkins was allowed to take her daughter to class while she was an infant.
After graduation, plans include potty-training Veronika and enrolling in a veterinary-related career program. “I think that if I can do this, I can do anything,” she said.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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