QUILCENE — If you had asked Megan Anderson in her sophomore year of high school if she would graduate with her class, she says the answer would have been “No.”
Anderson isn’t afraid to admit it. In fact, she’s happy to tell the truth about just how lucky she is to be stepping onto the stage to receive her diploma from Quilcene High School today.
Anderson is one of 27 students graduating from Quilcene High School during a ceremony at 2 p.m. in the high school gymnasium.
Principal Jim Betteley said Anderson, now 17, is one of his “most improved students.”
Said Anderson: “There was a point in time there where I didn’t really have a lot of motivation.
“I didn’t really have any plans on what to do with my life then. So I definitely didn’t have any plans for the future.”
In the first term of her sophomore year, Anderson stopped making a point of attending school.
It wasn’t that she would skip class every day, it just wasn’t on her list of things to do most of the time.
“I’d come in once in a while,” she said. “But on most days, school just wasn’t very important to me.”
In the first term of the 2006-2007 school year, Anderson missed well over a month’s worth of school.
“If I could go back, I’d try to do it differently,” she said, “But I have grown up really fast because of it.”
Homeless
During that time, Anderson was homeless for a few months.
“I had a lot of problems with my family,” she said. “I lived with my mom in Chimacum, then moved in with my dad in Quilcene.
“What eventually happened was we weren’t getting along, and I decided I was going to see if I could handle it on my own.”
Anderson paused.
“I was 15. What was I thinking?” she said, cracking a smile.
“I didn’t even have transportation to get to school.”
She also didn’t have a sure place to sleep on any given night.
Anderson said she spent most of her time in the homes of friends, with school just not coming into focus.
Eventually, Anderson came face-to-face with consequences.
“If you miss more than 12 days in a term, you have to petition for your credits with the school,” Anderson said. “Also, you have to go to truancy court.”
Anderson pointed out that typically, a student who misses that much school is failing most classes, and it’s not worth it to fight for the credits.
“But I was passing all of my classes,” she said.
“I even had a few A’s.”
Anderson was missing half of the equation. She was smart enough to do the work, she just wasn’t showing up.
She realized that while she sat in court and through the credit hearings.
“I realized it was a second chance,” she said. “All of a sudden, I grew up a bit.”
Anderson eventually moved back in with her mother in Chimacum, but she didn’t change schools.
She said she recognized the teachers at Quilcene never gave up on her, and she wanted to stay.
Plus, she had figured out the second part of that equation for success.
‘Show up’
“If you show up and learn something new every day, you are going to get good grades,” Anderson said.
“It’s that easy.”
Principal Jim Betteley said that Anderson is “a great kid.
“She grew up fast, and it’s amazing to see how with the right people, you can help someone to succeed.
“But overall she did it, and it’s great to see.”
Anderson said she plans to go to college.
“I like school now,” she said.
“I really like working with kids and I am interested in the food services industry, so I hope to do something in one of those.
“Right now, I’m going to have to get a job and start saving to go to college.
“But I’m going to do it. I’ve got a plan.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
