Top CTE student doing it all

FARMINGTON – In a school packed with busy, busy people, Lexi Daggett stands out.

Composites manufacturing, plumbing program, business education student and bank teller at Franklin Savings Bank’s in-school branch. Member of 4-H, shows steers at shows and works at Robin’s Flower Pot, a greenhouse and nursery (“Anything outdoors,” Daggett says). Coaches Rec League soccer, was a captain on Mt. Blue’s soccer team. National Honors Society and latest Student of the Month for the campus. Serves on her town’s Planning Board.

Daggett, a New Vineyard resident, is 18 years old.

“I’m not afraid to ask questions,” Daggett said, when asked what the secret to her productivity was. “How else are you supposed to learn?”

The Foster Career and Technical Education Center nominates a Student of the Year annually; the awardees from each CTE center gather for a ceremony at the end of April. Daggett, the daughter of Sonny and Diane Daggett of New Vineyard, was Foster Tech Center’s Student of the Year for 2017.

“She’s a great kid all around,” Director Melissa Williams said. “She’s a great representative of the tech center and a real leader. We’re lucky to have her.”

To take three different programs at the Foster Tech Center was not typical, Williams said. “Lexi [Daggett] is definitely not in the normal range,” Williams said.

Daggett, for her part, calls the Foster Tech Center “a definite advantage” for local-area students. The only girl in her Composites class, Daggett became interested after seeing a composite material turtle shell and decided to make her own. From there, she moved into the Plumbing program, where she was once again the only girl. Her interest in plumbing relates to her prospective career choice of working in a fish hatchery – she plans to attend the Inland Fisheries program at the University of Maine at Machias after Foster Tech.

Daggett said she got her love of the outdoors from her family, adding that she was drawn to “anything my dad does.”

In addition to Daggett, Foster Tech Center honored top students from each of its Blue Day programs Friday. Top students include:

Elizabeth Burke in the Biotechnology program, Kasadie Barker in the Early Childhood program, Megan Sorel in the Nursing Assistant program, Nick Hargreaves in the Metal Fabrication program, Sage Hathaway, Ryan Begin in the Automotive Tech II program, Evan Dorr in the Firefighter program, Reed Wells in the Composites program, Nick Foy in the Culinary program, Justin Mathieu in the Plumbing program, Natasha Essman in the Business Education for Medical Careers program, Kurt Chapman in the Commercial Arts program, Jozef Short in the Building Construction program, Joe Crandall in the Computer Tech program, Robert Ladd in the Forestry program, Alexia Flannery in the Digital Media program, Aislynn Provencher in the Business Enterprise program and Richard Kingin the Commercial Driver CDL program.​