Michelle Boucher

FRYEBURG — Michelle Boucher, a resident of Fryeburg and a 2013 graduate of Fryeburg Academy, is this year’s recipient of the Gibson Memorial Medal, the school’s highest honor awarded to the senior student who is most outstanding in citizenship, character and scholarship.

She received the medal at the Fryeburg Academy commencement ceremony, May 26.

Michelle will be attending Colby College in Waterville this fall, where she plans to major in biology. She hopes to one day become a physician.

“I was incredibly honored to win the Gibson Medal,” she said. “For me, it is a symbol of hard work and the changes I made in my school, in my community, and within myself. I couldn’t have done any of it without the support of my peers, community, teachers and family.”

The Gibson Memorial Medal is named for Harvey Dow Gibson, one of the foremost American financiers of his day and an 1898 Fryeburg Academy graduate.

Michelle was also the recipient of the Maine Principals’ Association Principal’s Award, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizens Award, the Fryeburg Area Rotary Service Above Self Scholarship, the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship, the Madeline A. Savard Medical Award, and the New England Science Teachers Award, as well as a Dollars for Scholars Scholarship.

Very active in community service, Michelle was recognized as a WCSH6 TV Teen Who Cares in 2012. One of her many community service endeavors involved starting a dress drive to provide affordable prom and semi-formal dresses to local girls. All dresses were $5 and the proceeds went to the Jackie Smith Fund, named after a beloved Fryeburg Academy guidance counselor who passed away in 2011, which helps students in dire circumstances.

While at the Academy, she was on the high honor roll every semester and also served as class president all four years. In addition to a rigorous academic class schedule that included many Advanced Placement courses, the music program was a big part of Michelle’s life on campus. She played the violin in a jazz combo, which earned second place in the Maine State High School Instrumental Jazz Festival this year. She also learned to play the trombone and the euphonium in addition to serving as the school’s drum major for four years.

A well-rounded student, she played softball her first three years and, in her senior year, joined the Ultimate Frisbee team and the Nordic ski team, despite never having been on skis.

Michelle lives in Fryeburg with her parents, Sarah and Gerry Boucher, and her brother Matthew.