Belmont's Top 10 grateful for high school experience as they look forward

BELMONT — The Belmont High School class of 2025 Top 10 consists of homegrown students ready to move on to independence. They recently reminisced on their most memorable experiences.

Kamdin Boyd, 18, will attend Plymouth State University to study business and marketing. He is excited to leave his hometown, even if he's staying within the Lakes Region, to do something different. While he enjoyed his time in high school, he hopes college will provide a more practical approach to learning.

“I want that hands-on, not sitting in a classroom and reading textbooks,” he said. “I think that's what I hope for out of college.”

Boyd’s interest in business came from an attempt to start a clothing brand. While it is still a new endeavor, it's motivating him to learn, as he has a real-life application for his studies.

“That's been a lot of fun to just figure out. We're in the trademarking process right now, which is, I think, the most complex part for sure,” he said.

Boyd said the Winter Carnival was his favorite part of high school, noting the graduating class has won the carnival for three years in a row, starting their second year at Belmont High.

Riley Cotnoir, 17, will attend Colby-Sawyer College in New London, aiming for a degree in psychology. Cotnoir has identified a nationwide mental health crisis, noting she knows family and friends who are struggling. She took psychology and sociology classes during her time at Belmont.

“I think that people don't really know how to cope with how they're feeling, and I just think that's kind of an important subject to learn, and to be able to help people who are struggling,” Cotnoir said.

Cotnoir is a softball player, and will continue as a catcher for Colby-Sawyer. She’s played softball with friends like fellow Top 10 senior Madison Smith since she was 7 years old. And while she's happy with the friends she made, she views college as a way to meet people beyond her own community.

“I'm excited to go to college and meet different kinds of people with different experiences and stuff, and maybe different people who think like me.”

Emerson Decato, 18, was born and raised in Belmont. She feels like this has allowed her to make important connections.

“Belmont is really small, so you have that close relationship with your teachers and your friends, your peers, all the people that you've grown up with for so long,” she said.

Decato will attend Keene State College to study exercise science and nutrition. She was raised in a family which promoted having a healthy lifestyle, and wants to share knowledge about maintaining one. She said there is more to a healthy lifestyle than eating healthy. It also is important to invest in good relationships, and do things that make you happy.

“I want to help other people find something that makes them happy, and makes them want to continue bettering themselves or having a healthier lifestyle,” she said.

Decato contributes to her own healthy lifestyle by competing on the track and field team as a mid-distance runner.

Decato’s favorite high school experience was a trip to France her second year. She had the chance to witness another culture’s approach to food, and living life.

“There was so much more flavor in their food. And it was really interesting, because what they're eating is not essentially healthier. It's just what the ingredients are,” she said. “There's less ingredients, so it's more simple, and the food is also really good.

"The quality is just really amazing.”

Tyler Durand, 17, the class valedictorian, will enroll in the University of New Hampshire in Durham to pursue a degree in biochemistry. He took AP biology and chemistry in high school, liked both, and decided to combine them.

“I just like that it's so involved in everyday life, and it just happens all around, but you don't really notice it. But you can kind of stop and think about it,” he said.

Durand also went on the cultural exchange trip to France his second year, saying it was his favorite part of high school. Not only was it fun, but it was literally life-changing for him. Before the trip, Durand said he was quiet, shy, and didn’t stick up for himself. But now, it’s quite the opposite.

“I think that it allowed me to find myself, being in a different country, and it was kind of just like a self-discovery trip,” he said. “I learned a lot about myself, and became more confident.”

Theresa Gamache, 18, will soon complete an associate's degree from New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord, after taking classes at Lakes Region Community College during the last semester. She hopes to study radiology at NHTI.

Gamache took anatomy and physiology in high school. She loved the class, and considered being a doctor, but that didn’t feel right for her. Nor did nursing.

“I didn't want to be a doctor, just because too much time and too much money. I'm too impatient for that,” she said. “Nursing, it just seemed too gross about, like, the bodily fluids that people have to deal with.”

After looking online, Gamache found out about radiologic technologists.

“I found that being an X-ray tech is even a job, and that just kind of sent me down the whole wormhole of, like, medical imaging and stuff like that,” she said. “I've been wanting to do it ever since.”

Gamache’s favorite part of high school was a trip she took a trip to London, where she saw history and cultural differences. It sparked a desire to continue to travel. 

Madison Liakas, 18, will be pursuing an associate’s degree in business management from Lakes Region Community College. Liakas took classes at LRCC this past semester, after having finished her high school class requirements. She is already two-thirds of the way to finishing her degree.

“I'm taking classes this summer, so I only have like, five more classes left,” she said. “Then we'll see if I have an interest in something further for me to pursue.”

A potential career for Liakas is as an esthetician, following in her mother’s footsteps, who owns Luna Energy & Esthetics. She is considering either getting a esthetician license or moving on to a bachelor’s degree.

Liakas’ favorite part of high school was a weeks-long trip she made to France as part of a cultural exchange program during her second year. She visited Paris, Normandy and Rouen.

“I hosted a French girl, and then later in that year, I went and visited her for a few weeks and got to experience school in France,” she said.

Liakas' love for travel since then has led her to a trip to Quebec with her French class, and a mission trip to Tanzania.

Thomas Monasky, 17, will study pediatric dental hygiene at NHTI. Monasky believes oral care affects broader body health, as both digestion and nutrition start in the mouth. He was inspired by dentists at Children’s Dentistry of the Lakes Region, where he has been a patient his entire life. Monasky thinks he can do the most good working with children, as they are more impressionable, and can learn a lot about proper dental hygiene.

“So you could teach them healthy habits with their hygiene. They're going to be more likely to be like afraid if they're in dentist office. You can console them, you can talk to them,” Monasky said. “I guess it's just the opportunity to teach them into being good people with good habits.”

Monasky’s favorite part of high school was winter carnival, a competition in various activities between each grade. He also loved making cardboard forts his first year in French class. Both of these things allowed him to connect with lifelong friends, including his girlfriend and his best friend, who he met after he played a piano performance for a winter carnival.

“He came back to sit after he was done, and he was a complete stranger. I'm just like, ‘Hey, you nailed it out there. That was really good.’ And he's like, ‘Oh, thank you,’” Monasky remembered. “And so we got to know each other, and we're best friends now.”

Madison Smith, 17, the salutatorian, will be going to St. Lawrence University in New York to study psychology, sociology and business. Her interest in psychology is partly inspired by two aunts in the field. During her time in school, her appeal was solidified after taking psychology and sociology classes.

“I like learning a lot about how people act. The way they do [is] something that's always been super interesting to me,” Smith said.

Smith said her favorite thing about high school is being around a diverse group of people every day.

Smith plays pitcher and third base for the softball team, where she made friends. She will go on to pitch for St. Lawrence.

Adeline Takantjas, 17, is excited to graduate, but said the achievement has not hit her yet. She has lived in Belmont her whole life, and realized how big a change going away will be.

“I'm excited to meet new people, but it's also scary to leave the people I've been with all my life.”

Takantjas’ favorite subject is science, which sparked an interest in nursing. Her aunt is also a nurse. She took an anatomy and physiology class, where she dissected a sheep's brain. That assignment was uncomfortable for her, knowing she could cut open a brain, a crucial, multifunctional part of the body.

“That was only thing that freaked me out, though, nothing with blood or guts,” she said.

She watches a lot of the television show "Grey’s Anatomy," saying what she does won’t be like the show, as she doesn’t want to do emergency-based care.

Takantjas will attend Wheaton College in Massachusetts, as a member of the track and field team. Her favorite part of high school was when she won the state championship title for the triple jump last year.

“I hope to do it once again. I am in first right now for the division,” she said. “This weekend is the state meet.”

Talia Watson, 18, will attend Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, pursuing a degree in health sciences on a path to being a physical therapist. Watson is an athlete, primarily in track and field and soccer. Her interest in physical therapy came after she was injured playing basketball. That injury worsening through the soccer season, and required reconstruction therapy for ligaments in her knee.

"I had to go through physical therapy. And my physical therapists inspired me to want to help people that might have gone through the same thing as me.”

Watson said spending so much time playing sports is where she made her closest friends.

“I made great friendships [with] all the people on the team. And there's never bad parts about it.”