CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou High School has shaped a number of students into remarkably accomplished adults, and this year, the school’s National Honor Society plans on honoring a few for their lifetime accomplishments by inducting them into the Alumni Hall of Fame.
The first Alumni Hall of Fame, held in 2016, honored six former CHS students: Olof Pierson, credited with inventing frozen french fries; four star Navy Admiral Gregory H. Johnson; Daytona International Speedway grounds director Jason Griffeth; Cary Medical CEO Kris Doody; U.S. Sen. Susan Collins; and NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir.
Large framed photographs of the six inductees are currently hung up in Caribou High School, where they will remain until this year’s inductees of the second class of hall of famers are honored. After this year’s ceremony, their names will be placed on a plaque on the opposite side of the hallway as the new photos go up.
Hall of Fame Co-Chairs Emily Michaud and Camden Dumont are spearheading this year’s April 29 event and organizing a banquet that will occur on the same day.
Michaud, a Junior at CHS, said she volunteered for the co-chair position in August, and that while organizing hasn’t been incredibly hectic since then, it will be as the date looms closer.
She said this year’s Hall of Fame will be fairly similar to 2016’s inaugural event, and that she and other NHS members will focus on “acknowledging people who have graduated from Caribou High School that should be recognized.”
Alumni nominated, but not inducted, last year are still in the pool of potential candidates, in addition to new nominees. The selection process is set to occur next week, at which point school officials will make an official announcement regarding the new inductees.
“Anyone is eligible as long as they have graduated from Caribou High School,” Michaud said.
As of Feb. 28, the co-chairs were unable to say who has been nominated, as a special committee is delegated with going through nominations and selecting inductees.
The special committee is somewhat secretive, consisting of teachers, administrators, and members of the Caribou community whose names are not publicly released. Dumont said he does not know who sits on the committee, and that former NHS Adviser Kenneth Atcheson conceived of it to ensure the final selections are “fair and honest,” and that it’s a “big part of what he wanted” for the Hall of Fame.
NHS Adviser Shannon Sleeper said the NHS co-chairs of the event would be invited to the committee’s selection meeting to learn more about the process.
“It’s very formal,” she said. “There are checklists, and everyone takes a methodical approach to selection. We speak collaboratively about the nomination process, and then there is a vote.”
Sleeper said the committee employs a “dynamic and individual” selection process, considering numerous qualities and how those positive attributes collectively speak to the alumni’s overall eligibility for the accolade.
“If you look at the diversity of the first class,” she said, “we were looking at all walks of life. It doesn’t necessarily have to be just accolades and accomplishments, but contributions to society as well.”
NHS officials will notify inductees as soon as the committee announces their selections, in order to ensure that they have ample time to travel and make arrangements to attend the ceremony, which will be held at 1 p.m Sunday, April 29, at the Caribou Performing Arts Center.
Michaud said they decided to hold the event on a Sunday afternoon to ensure that “everybody is able to go,” and has time to leave afterward.
For the ceremony itself, Dumont said selected participants will read short passages on stage before introducing each of the inductees.
“Different people will come up and read a passage describing why a person is being inducted,” he said, “and they come up and make an acceptance speech. We also have a dinner beforehand. It should be a nice event.”
Dumont was present for the first event as a sophomore and volunteered to help with the banquet and to set up large framed photographs, printed by County Qwik Print, of the inductees.
The next step for Dumont and Michaud is to prepare for the banquet, which Dumont said involves “ensuring the cafeteria is more spaced out,” by moving “tables and chairs,” and draping tablecloths, in addition to determining “what to have for dinner.”
“As of right now it’s not that crazy,” said Michaud, “but it will be when it gets down to the wire.”
Dumont said there is a wide variety of notable alumni from the school and he is looking forward to seeing who is selected to join the Alumni Hall of Fame.
“We have a lot of cool people here,” he said.
