Gilford's top 10 aim to leave their mark on the world

GILFORD — The most academically successful graduates of Gilford High School — the top 10 — all are driven to use their talent and work ethic to connect to the world around them, whether through health care, engineering disciplines, law enforcement, travel or environmental advocacy.

The Gilford High School Class of 2024 will graduate at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 7, at BankNH Pavilion.

Elizabeth Albert, a Gilford native, will be studying health science at Franklin Pierce University this fall, with the goal of becoming a physical therapist. She landed on that career goal after enduring a personal hardship.

“I tore my ACL when I was a sophomore, ever since then I have been very interested in physical therapy and helping others with sports-related injuries,” Albert said. She is fortunate to have a career role model in her aunt, Dawn Guerin.

Albert is on the soccer and tennis teams, and is a member of the Spanish and varsity clubs, National Honor Society and the business club DECA.

A favorite high school memory for Albert was in 2022, when her soccer team won the state championship. “It was a big recovery moment,” she said, in that it proved to her she could come back after her injury and perform at a high level. “It taught me a lot of lessons about pushing myself after my injury. It takes a lot of work, and you have to have time management, and you learn a lot about yourself.”

After Gilford High School, the next stop for Gilford resident Riley Powers will be boot camp for the U.S. Marine Corps, en route to the Military Police Academy.

“My dad and brother are both Marines,” Powers said. “I just had the feeling that I wanted to serve.” Powers said she might make a career out of her military service, or she might pivot after her initial enlistment to work as a State Police officer.

While at GHS, Powers has been a member of the Spanish and environmental clubs, and NHS. She’s also a percussionist in the band, and has played in the pit for school dramatic performances.

“I want to leave a positive impact on the world and others,” Powers said. “Part of me wanting to be police is to enforce the law and protect the community.”

Abby Shute is also drawn to service, but in the medical form. Shute will be studying nursing at Endicott College, with the intention of becoming a nurse practitioner.

“I have a lot of health care members in my family, I had a really amazing nurse practitioner as my primary care practitioner, that impacted me,” Shute explained. “I want to give people that same comfortable experience that I had.”

Shute was a member of the volleyball and track teams, and her club memberships include NHS, Spanish club and DECA.

Shute’s favorite high school memory is of her time on the volleyball team. “We were all really close, we did a lot of bonding activities.”

Close bonds, especially when they include trust, are something she hopes to engender as a health care provider.

“I just hope to, with my career, help a lot of people’s lives,” Shute said. “Even if it’s just a few people, to make a difference in their health is really important.”

Maddie McKenna, the class salutatorian and a Gilmanton native, is heading to the University of New Hampshire to study chemical engineering. She is going to see where her interests take her from there, noting such a degree could be applied in a career working with the environment, pharmaceuticals or food production.

Her chosen degree came about through a stroke of fortune. McKenna said she was placed, without her input, in an aerospace engineering class during her first year at GHS.

“I ended up really liking it,” McKenna said. After finding a similar affinity for chemistry, “I figured I would do both at the same time.”

McKenna is president of NHS, is a member of the Spanish and varsity clubs, and plays soccer, basketball and softball. She said the bonds she’s made on those sports teams are among her favorite parts of high school.

“It was really nice to meet everyone, to see familiar faces in the hallway and know you always have someone to go to for support,” McKenna said.

Whatever professional path she chooses, she said she hopes her work will have an impact beyond her own life.

“I want to be someone that helps other people, makes the world a better place, makes people’s lives better,” McKenna said.

Millie Caldon, another Gilmanton native and class valedictorian, will be playing soccer and studying biology at Hartwick College in New York this fall. She isn’t certain about how a biology degree will figure into her career, but has some ideas.

“I wouldn’t mind doing something like a medical tech or lab technician,” Caldon said, explaining she “loves” the subject of biology, specifically learning how cellular processes work, and how rapid the pace of progress is, especially in the medical field.

At Gilford, Caldon was part of the soccer, basketball and softball teams, and was a member of NHS and the varsity and Spanish clubs. Some of her favorite moments, though, came during unstructured times, such as in between classes or during study blocks, “laughing with friends, just the light-heartedness of it all.”

If she could go back four years and advise her ninth grade self, Caldon would say, “Every experience is what you make of it,” she said. “Make the best of stuff, your mindset is a lot of it. Most of the time, it’s not as a big of a deal as people think it is.”

Caroline Guest, a Gilford native, hopes to spend her career cruising at 30,000 feet, which is why she’s heading to the University of North Dakota to study aviation. She has already logged about 35 hours of flying time at Laconia Municipal Airport, on her way to earning her private pilot’s license, and hopes to have a career as an airline pilot.

“It’s challenging, there’s a lot of stuff going on,” she said about flying. “It’s never boring, I really like that. It’s really hands-on.” She said she is also fascinated by the opportunities aviation provides for travelers, to get to parts of the world in hours that would have taken weeks or months to reach prior to the advent of flight. “It’s exciting and fun,” she said.

Guest is a member of NHS, as well as the unified and Spanish clubs, and plays unified basketball, lacrosse and field hockey.

“I was really close with my field hockey team, we won two championships,” Guest said.

Delilah Smock, a Gilmanton native, had her high school life interrupted by an injury her sophomore year. She had been an Alpine ski racer, as well as a softball and volleyball player, but had to quit all three sports to focus on a multi-year recovery. That was a painful experience, she said, but she responded by redoubling her academic efforts.

As a result of those efforts, she will be studying sustainable ecology and policy in the University of Vermont’s Patrick Leahy Honors College.

Ecology and environmental science are interests Smock said she’s had since middle school.

“I’m thinking about going into the policy side of it,” Smock said, though she is also interested in advocacy and education as well. “I will see where the program takes me.”

Smock’s treasured memories from high school include time spent with her friends, as well as some of the elective courses she explored. “I really enjoyed wheel throw [pottery] and jewelry,” she said.

“I hope to become a pretty involved community member,” Smock said about her hopes for adulthood. “Make some sort of change with my work in environmentalism.”

Maddie Guest, a Gilford native and Caroline’s twin, will also be going to UVM, where she will be studying molecular genetics, as part of a pre-medical track. She hopes to become a surgeon, she said, an ambition that stems from watching those closest to her.

“Both of my parents are veterinarians, I’ve been exposed to medicine at an early age. It’s something I want to do to help other people. It seems really interesting to me,” Maddie said.

Maddie played field hockey, lacrosse and unified basketball, was a member of NHS and the Spanish and unified clubs, and, outside of school, is a figure skater.

Aside from her friendships, she said that the most valuable high school experiences to her were athletics. “It’s exciting to be with your team, the bond you have with your team is really important.”

“In the future, I hope to help people with what I’m planning on doing,” Maddie said. “If that changes, I want to make a positive impact.”

Ryan Guyer, a Gilford native, is heading to New Hampshire Technical Institute, where she will complete basic undergraduate courses while figuring out a specific career goal. Currently, her interests are in visual arts, interior design and psychology.

“I really like knowing why people do the things they do,” Guyer said.

Guyer is a member of NHS and the Spanish and environmental clubs. She also plays basketball and volleyball.

Guyer said sports provided some of the most important relationships of her high school experience.

“Those people are pretty special to me, especially the volleyball team,” Guyer said. “We got along really well and had a really fun season.”

She hopes her adulthood, whatever shape it takes, allows her to see the world.

“I really want to travel when I’m older, I really want to go to new countries,” Guyer said. She has already seen Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. “I really want to go to Europe.”

Lily Locke, a Gilmanton native, is heading to Wentworth Institute of Technology to major in electromechanical engineering. She is specifically fascinated by space and aviation, as well as prosthesis.

“I’m a nerd,” she said, explaining her interests. “I’ve always liked space, the final frontier,” and finds discussions about the ethical implications of space exploration, and its increasing commercialization, to be both interesting and important.

She sees similar opportunities for a more ethical medical device industry. The advent of 3D printing, for example, could make it possible for people to create their own, customized medical devices, such as prosthetics.

“That’s a really interesting road to go down,” Locke said.

Locke, who is a member of the Spanish club, said her favorite thing about high school has been the people she’s spent the past four years with.

“I have a really solid friend group,” Locke said, “Now that everyone is graduating, I want to spend as much time as possible with everyone.”