PORT ANGELES — Dan Spicher will be proud to receive his diploma today, especially after all the turbulence along the way.
Spicher, 19, said that since he started high school, he dropped out three times.
Tonight at 4 p.m. at the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center, 905 W. Ninth St., Spicher and nine of his classmates will receive their diplomas.
Lincoln High School was able to help him pull through, he said.
The ‘rebellion thing’
“I went through the whole rebellion thing and got to running with the wrong crowd,” he said.
“I got into the whole drugs and alcohol thing and started falling behind in the classes.
“The teachers and the classes at [Port Angeles High School] are really great, but they are so big that I just kept falling behind.
“Ultimately, I tried to cut my losses and just dropped out.”
But now he has a goal.
“Just next week, I’m going to go down to Tacoma and get signed up for the Coast Guard,” he said.
“That is one of my main motivations of finishing up, because you have to have a diploma to join.”
Bonded with teachers
At Lincoln, he has bonded with some of the teachers and has gotten a lot of one-on-one support, Spicher said.
“Mr. [Tyler] Jones and Mr. [Everett] Young have been really great,” he said.
“They’ll call my house if I’m running late and tell me to get up here for the day.
“So I’ll go ahead and get ready even if I was going to skip.
“They pushed me really hard, and that has helped a lot.”
Looking back, Spicher said he appreciates both Port Angeles High School and Lincoln High School, but Lincoln was the right choice for him.
“I just felt lost,” he said.
“So this school has been really good for me with the smaller class sizes.”
Now that he’s seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, Spicher is excited.
“This feels really good,” he said.
Once he is signed up for the Coast Guard, he hopes to become an electrician.
“When I was thinking about jobs, I really wanted to be a gunner,” he said.
“But then once you’re out, you need a job, and how many jobs are there out there for that?
“So I decided an electrician would be a good fit for me.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
