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Patience Boutin

PATIENCE BOUTIN

Kennebunk High School

Learning to accept help from others didn’t come easily to Patience Boutin, a recent Kennebunk High School graduate.

Diagnosed in elementary school with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Boutin attempted to forge ahead with schoolwork on her own. It was a struggle, and her grades suffered.

This year, a teacher convinced her to try out the school’s skills center program, where she could get some extra assistance with class work. She agreed to try it, and her grades shot up.

“I had a lot of pride, and didn’t want help. Senior year was kind of like breaking a barrier,” Boutin said. “My dad was really proud.”

Her father, Dan Melnick, had encouraged his daughter to get her grades up, but said it took Boutin coming to that conclusion on her own to turn things around: “She pulled herself up. It’s amazing that she managed to do it.”

Learning to accept help is a lesson that should come in handy when Boutin, 17, attends York County Community College. She plans to attend for two years, then move on to a four-year university.

Alexandrina Knowlton, a Kennebunk High School guidance counselor, said Boutin has always demonstrated a “quiet determination” to achieve success.

When her family moved from Arundel to Biddeford in March, Boutin had trouble finding rides to her job at the Stop & Shop in Kennebunk, where she worked for money and class credit.

She eventually arranged for a taxi to pick her up, which cut into her paycheck but allowed her to keep her obligations to work and school.

“She faced a great deal of adversity in order to achieve her success,” Knowlton said. “She never complained about it – it was never, ‘Oh, poor me.’ She just found a way to get things done.”

It’s that approach to life that has Boutin leaning toward a future in social work. Boutin’s persevered through academic struggles and family tragedy and believes she could one day help other teens do the same.

Boutin’s mother committed suicide when Boutin was just starting her freshman year in high school.

Later that year, her father was injured in a car accident. Her grandmother suffered a stroke around the same time and died during Boutin’s junior year.

Boutin said she strove to give support to her younger brother, forgoing after-school activities and extra tutoring during her freshman and sophomore years to be at home when her brother returned from school.

Boutin’s father said he has confidence in his daughter’s success.

“She pulled it out in the end,” he said. “You have to be able to live with you, and she pulled herself up.”Staff Writer Anne Gleason can be contacted at 282-8229 or at:agleason@pressherald.com