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Mill Pond Students Touted for MIlestone
Springfield Republican | 6/14/07
SPRINGFIELD - Montrell M. Harmon has a plan for the future with his best friend, Luis A. Martinez.
Harmon, 17, wants to be a chef and own his own restaurant. Martinez, 18, wants to be a videogame designer. The pair have an agreement that Martinez will bring his clients to Harmon's restaurant.
And every time Martinez comes to the restaurant? "He just gets to eat free," Harmon said last night, shortly after the pair and eight other students graduated from Mill Pond School.
The ceremony was held in the Rivers Memorial Building at Western New England College, and the keynote speaker was Mary Anne Morris, executive officer for special education with the Springfield public schools. Morris told the graduates that finishing high school was "a huge accomplishment and a wonderful achievement and a major milestone in your lives."
Morris also told the graduates their diploma means they have the freedom to become who they want to become. But she also told the class to keep working hard and to further their education.
"Most importantly, keep going," she said.
Martinez, who is going to Springfield College, said he has thought about being a videogame designer or a zookeeper since childhood. Game designer won out, and Martinez said he has gotten support for his choice.
"Everyone I've been around has been supportive of me and my career path," he said.
Harmon, who will be attending Holyoke Community College, said he has wanted to be a chef for as long as he can remember.
"I just want to cook everything," he said.
Mill Pond is a special education school owned by The Children's Study Home. The home is a nonprofit agency that focuses on working with children and families in need of social services.
The graduates received a diploma from the school last night, and will also get a diploma from the school district that referred them to Mill Pond. Most of the graduates live in Springfield.
"I think it goes without saying this is not your ordinary graduation," William A. Davila, Study Home deputy director, told the audience last night. "This is an extraordinary graduation."