After graduation: The choices of three graduates
On June 14, close to 200 students will graduate from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School. The Class of 2009 is made up of individuals who have expressed their singular styles, talents, personalities, and ambitions. While more than 70 percent will be continuing their formal education, others will be making choices based on who they are and what their priorities are. All are interesting and all are worthy.
Ryan Cray, 17, has had a good influence in the person of his father, Army specialist Jason Cray, who is serving in Iraq. Photo by Mimi Wells
Slight and muscular, Ryan Cray is blessed with the kind of agility that suggests he could roll out of bed and easily run a marathon on any given morning. At 17 years old, Ryan might be one of the younger students in the class of 2009, and he is the only graduate enlisted in the Army. "I'm going to start training for boot camp pretty soon," he says. "I leave for basic training August 10."
In a clear and measured voice, Ryan says, "The most important thing for me is getting college taken care of. That's pretty much the number one reason I joined. I'm not really made of money." So he joined using the Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP) and a two-year deferred mobilization: which obliges the Army to keep him in the same unit, and not move that unit for two years. This gives Ryan time to pick up extra credits at a community college, and then enroll in a four-year Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. He calculates that he won't deploy overseas for between five and six years.
But money for college is not the only reason Ryan joined the Army, although he admits that, "if you had asked me if I would join the Army in December, I probably would have said 'no.'" In December 2008, Ryan traveled to Ft. Hood, Texas where his father, Army Specialist Jason Cray, was stationed. It was Christmas break, and Specialist Cray was scheduled to leave on a year-long deployment to Baghdad on January 14. Spending time on the base with his father, Ryan was moved by the feeling of camaraderie and saw an opportunity for himself. "It was an awesome environment," he says. "The whole Army family thing. And the benefits are out of this world. I started talking to my recruiter when I got back home, and pretty much within a month I was in Boston signing up."
It's not just the benefits or the job security that motivates Ryan. He is proud of his father's contribution to the country and wants to do the same. Looking ahead he said, "I will be the first person to raise my hand and say I'll go over as long as my education is taken care of."
The similarities between he and his father are striking: Ryan will do his basic training in Fort Lennonwood in Missouri, where his father trained; Ryan's high school graduation falls on his father's birthday; and a special bonus: Jason Cray will be on a short leave from active duty in Baghdad in order to appear at Ryan's commencement on June 14.
Looking ahead to his upcoming August ship-out date, and even further down the line to possible deployment doesn't intimidate Ryan, though he admits his nerves flare up from time to time. Receiving the "90-day reminder" email was a bit of a shock, he admits. Overall he says, "I'm excited, and it's a cool feeling knowing that my dad's doing it. It's kind of like a repayment. I'm doing what I owe the country. For everything that everyone else does, I feel that I owe the same thing."
Ana Carvalho will attend Tufts University this fall. Photo courtesy of Ana Carvalho
Ana Carvalho arrived on Martha's Vineyard not speaking any English from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in fifth grade. Her mother attended college in Brazil, her father, who did not, is Pastor Valci Carvalho of the Alliance Community Church in Oak Bluffs. "They always asked that I put forth my best effort," she said, reflecting on her upbringing. Ana picked up English quickly at the Oak Bluffs School and was fluent within a year. By high school, English was her favorite subject, and she was taking advanced placement (AP) courses. She says her AP teachers inspired her love of "the art of rhetoric," teaching her that, "If you know how to use your words well you can be so much more successful in life, so much more persuasive."
Articulate, organized, and obviously driven to achieve, Ana was awarded the Martha's Vineyard Vision Fellowship and will be attending Tufts University this fall with full financial support. The decision to apply to college was a natural one, she said, adding, "never was there a moment in time that I doubted that I would be going to college."
The MV Vision Fellowship promotes programs that encourage Island sustainability. As a part of the fellowship Ana will be returning every summer from Tufts to do an internship at CONNECT (formerly Women's Support Services) to focus on domestic violence and sexual abuse, issues that she says are, "big on the Island, but get swept under the rug." She explains, "My focus is not only getting the word out about domestic violence prevention to a younger community on the Island but also to the Brazilian community, since I'm fluent and I have access to both communities."
As a part of the fellowship Ana is planning to major in sociology and minor in Spanish. "If I can do anything to get the word out, I would love to be a source of information," she says, adding, "I'm excited, I'm actually ecstatic. I think I'm going to be nostalgic as well and miss the everyday aspect of the Island... all the people I've met and how much they've influenced my life. But I'm also really excited for the future and what's ahead and I know there's so much else out there in the world to see."
Ryan Dwane, captain of the boy's varsity soccer team, has a deep voice, and a strong presence. He describes himself as a "hands-on guy, focused on family, and really involved in sports."
Ryan Dwane, captain of the boy's varsity soccer team,
is teaming up with his family. Photo courtesy Ryan Dwane
He is a fifth generation Islander on his mother's side, and the eldest of five siblings. "Family," he says, "is a big thing in my life. It's always been consistent. A lot of my life's decisions have been made [by] factoring them in." He describes his father, who has coached his soccer teams, as, "one of my best friends." His mother, sitting next to him at alert attention as he speaks, also plays a big role in Ryan's life, "helping me make decisions, talking to me."
Most of Ryan's friends are attending college in the fall, and he says he does occasionally ask himself, "If I went to college, what would I be majoring in?" But, he says, "I know that college could possibly be an option down the road, once I know what I want to do and what I want to focus on."
In the meantime, Ryan has decided to postpone college and enter a new family business with his father, who is opening a coffee shop in the historic district of New Bedford. He will be an assistant manager in his father's store. His choice is, he says, "a different way to go out and gain more knowledge, a different kind of knowledge than what I learned in school, in the real world."
Ryan says he's happy knowing that he will be helping "keep revenue in the family," and plans to commute between New Bedford and his parents' house starting in the fall. As for the long-term future, Ryan is undecided. "I feel a strong connection to Ireland, and I want to see what its like off-Island, but I think I'll end up coming back. This is my home."
Mimi Wells is a freelance writer living in Chilmark.
