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Jessica Marquis

JESSICA MARQUIS

Freeport High School

Jessica Marquis was miserable when, in the middle of her junior year, her family moved from Freeport to Calais.

She felt isolated in the Washington County community, missed her art classes in Freeport and thought about running away.

"I certainly was having emotional problems," Marquis said.

But even if she could make her way back to Freeport, she wouldn't have been allowed to attend school unless she was a legal resident of the town.

A longtime family friend agreed to be Marquis' guardian in Freeport.

Marquis started taking classes at Freeport before the legal guardianship paperwork was even complete.

"She really wanted to learn," said Rik Belanger, who taught Marquis in his commercial art class at Maine Vocational Region 10, a Brunswick school that's affiliated with Freeport High School.

"It's hard enough to get a kid in here when they're supposed to be in here," he said. "She was here when she didn't need to be."

Marquis said she could tell the situation was hard for her family, and required her to take on extra responsibilities.

"I was paying for my own food, paying for my own cell phone and pitching in for rent," Marquis said.

She also filed financial aid paperwork for college.

Marquis also reconnected with her estranged father -- whom she hadn't seen since she was 5 -- only to lose him to cancer a few months later.

"I could see that through this whole patch, she just wanted to learn," said Belanger. "She wasn't going to let a life situation keep her from that."

Marquis, 18, plans to attend Southern Maine Community College next year.

"I think it's definitely matured me," Marquis said of her past year. "I'm a more responsible adult.

"It's kind of opened my eyes," she said. "I have to do this and I have to get through it."

Staff Writer Isaac Kestenbaum can be contacted at 791-6308 or at:

ikestenbaum@pressherald.com