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Susan Flynn column: Graduates grateful for diplomas and sobriety

By Susan Flynn
Staff writer
Published: June 7, 2008

Graduation speeches tend to stick to similar themes — about chasing big dreams and making the world a better place.

Natasha Harkins-Dube talked about losing her soul.

"I never finished anything I started because all I ever wanted to do was use drugs," she told the crowd of hushed parents, grandparents and friends. "I was someone no one recognized or wanted to be around. I hated myself — I was a manipulating, dishonest, selfish little girl with no future."

On Wednesday, the 19-year-old from Beverly graduated from Northshore Recovery High School, a place that she said literally saved her life.

Amanda Maddock spoke of a similar experience. She started drinking at 13 and discovered cocaine two years later.

"I am convinced that if I had not found Recovery High School, I wouldn't stand here today," said the Danvers teen. "I would probably be in jail, if not dead."

Every day, her teachers said, she started class with notebook open and pen in hand, so determined not to fail again. She leaves the school with a nearly straight-A average and plans to attend Salem State College come fall.

The graduation planners were wise to put out boxes of Kleenex for the afternoon ceremony.

Two years ago, this experimental high school for students addicted to drugs and alcohol opened in empty space at Memorial Middle School in Beverly. In the beginning, there were 11 students. Today, there are 50, and at least 10 names on a waiting list.

Beverly's was the first in Massachusetts, and now two recovery high schools have opened in Boston and Springfield.

At the start of the ceremony, the staff took turns introducing each student, praising their "kindness" and "decency" and "intellect." It's a small school, and deep relationships develop between teachers and students.

Some pick up the students on the way to school every morning, and all stay late to handle the crises that crop up when you are a teenager struggling to stay sober and grow up at the same time.

One by one, the 13 graduates stood at the podium to thank parents, grandparents, friends, classmates, teachers and, in one case, the police for not giving up on them. Most apologized for the hurts they caused. One student thanked his mom for bailing him out of the Winchester police station; another praised her sister, who "never judged me and has always given me the benefit of the doubt."

One student couldn't stop sobbing long enough to read her speech, so Principal Michelle Lipinski stepped in to finish. She, too, was crying.

Greg Hughes, the graduation speaker, is the director of the Governor's Council on Substance Abuse. He called the school "a national model," and the best recovery high school in the country.

It might even be the best high school, period, he said.

Here are some statistics: 87 percent of the students who started school in September finished the year; 50 percent of the students never had a positive drug test; and 98 percent attend school on any given day. These figures are "unheard of" in recovery circles, Hughes said.

The work is grueling, for students and staff. There are heartaches and setbacks. Two seniors missed graduation because they needed to return to rehab.

Many credit the success of the program to Lipinski, whom Hughes called "a gift" to the school. Her work is intense, and so is her devotion. Most school principals don't leave their cell phone numbers on their work answering machine message in case a student needs to talk.

Some of the graduates will return to the school next year to teach and mentor students. None of the graduates is apt to ever forget the place.

Tony Gross watched his daughter self-destruct for years. She's now been sober for one year and three weeks.

"Miracles happen here," he said.

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Staff writer Susan Flynn can be reached at sflynn@salemnews.com or by calling 978-338-2658.