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Sunday, April 2, 2006
Teenager hurdles many obstacles, gets things done
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||||
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Also on this page: MORE ON THE WINNERS | |||||||||
Some of Devin Boilard's earliest memories are of hours spent in speech therapy as a child. His mother remembers him as an awkward, knock-kneed boy with slightly deformed feet and a shy, withdrawn personality. "I had a really bad stutter. . . . It's like your mouth is going against you," Boilard said. Things have changed. Boilard is a track star at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham who loves debate and reads the announcements over the intercom each morning at school. Boilard was born with pneumonia to a young mother who had not yet found her way out of an abusive relationship, and he was stricken with spinal meningitis early in his life. His luck changed dramatically as a fourth-grader at Bowdoin Central School. Gradually he stopped stuttering. Administrators moved him to a gifted-and-talented program, where he began to learn to speak German. Through physical therapy, he started to run more smoothly. Years later, with more therapy, he would overcome an eating disorder. "He doesn't let limits keep him back," said his mother, Nancy Greindl. Boilard, a 17-year-old power broker at his high school, gets things done. The student-body president organizes fund-raisers. He serves as a legislative page in Augusta. He runs track and cross country. Walk down a hall at Mt. Ararat, and his efforts are apparent — a bulletin board with updates on student issues and activities, a bottle drive for the American Cancer Society. Boilard is helping administrators redesign the school's parking lot to alleviate congestion. Next year the school will install new equipment, courtesy of his efforts, to address a sour situation among students: drinking water. "The water here is just gross," Boilard said. He and the principal recently found money to fund four new fountains. Teachers praise Boilard's sense of humor, drive and fierce independent streak. An openly gay teenager, Boilard gave news interviews last fall when he decided to "come out" in high school during the run-up to the gay rights referendum. "He has his own thoughts, ideas and goals and has persevered to stand by these," said Boilard's advanced placement English teacher, Stewart Palmer. Boilard, a senior, will attend American University this fall, pursuing a career in international affairs. He says his goal is to be a U.S. ambassador, perhaps to Germany or Switzerland. In an e-mail to the newspaper, Greindl said she was awed by her son's transformation. "Yesterday, I watched him run at the Maine State Track and Field championships at (the University of Southern Maine). I got a lump in my throat when I thought of all he has accomplished," she wrote.
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