Newtown resident Penelope Jackson fondly looks back on her journey to becoming Forman School Class of 2024’s Salutatorian and delivering a speech to her fellow graduates at the school’s Senior Appreciation Night in late May.

Jackson has spent most of her life as a Newtown resident outside of a two year period when she was around nine or ten and lived in California. She went to Newtown Public Schools up until her sophomore year at Newtown High School, after which she decided to switch schools going into her junior year.

“I just needed a better fit,” Jackson explained. “I have dyslexia and ADHD, and as much as I love Newtown and the schools and the teachers there, I felt like I just needed some more help.”

To that end, she eventually decided to go to Forman School, a co-ed college-preparatory boarding school in Litchfield for students grades 9-12 with identified learning differences such as dyslexia and ADHD.

It took her some time to realize she felt like she needed to make the switch. Jackson said she thought she was doing “pretty good at Newtown” for a while, being a high Bs-low As student, and that her learning disabilities had always gone under the radar. It was not until she saw a therapist during COVID who introduced Jackson to a psychiatrist that diagnosed her.

While she says she “kind of knew” she had ADHD, Jackson said dyslexia came as a huge shock to her. She tried to get help through a 504 plan, which is a framework for schools on how to provide support and remove barriers for students with disabilities so they can learn in a regular classroom.

Jackson said they “couldn’t really give her much,” however, because they did not see that she was struggling as her academics were still pretty good. She got the average extra time and notes, but not much else.

According to Jackson, she increasingly felt socially exhausted. Jackson had been doing theater since she was in seventh grade, and enjoyed doing the musicals her school put on. Despite that, she says it got to the point where she stopped doing shows during her sophomore year because she was exhausted from trying to keep up with her schoolwork.

“That’s kind of when I realized things needed to change,” said Jackson, who added she made the push to go to a smaller school like Forman because she realized she needed a more personal connection with her teachers for her learning style.

The summer going into her sophomore year, her parents found out about the Forman Summer Program, which Jackson said is like a month-long sleepaway camp where students balance academics and recreational activities. The classes she took in this period helped her figure out how she learned best.

“That really helped me because I didn’t necessarily need help with trying to catch up, but I needed to know how do I go about doing this work, because that’s what I was really struggling with,” Jackson explained.

After only a week into the program, Jackson realized she loved it. She called her parents and told them she needed to go to this school and that it was where she belonged.

“Being with people who think like me, not only academically, but also socially, you know we all understand that if we go nonverbal, it’s not because we’re mad or whatever. Sometimes we’re just stressed or overstimulated,” Jackson said. “And so I finally found my people.”

While her parents cautioned her that they probably could not get her into Forman for her sophomore year, they promised to push for junior year instead. Jackson said her parents have been some of her biggest supporters in her journey as both a student and a person.

Even when they were nervous and scared with the idea of sending her to a boarding school, she said, her parents nevertheless entertained the idea after seeing how much she grew during the summer program. From there, Jackson says that they pushed for options and fought really hard to find the best place for her.

‘The Best Thing To Happen’

Jackson said switching to Forman for her junior year was “the best thing to happen to me academically,” in part due to her experiences with faculty. English teacher Alex MacConochie helped her deal with her perfectionism and getting out of her academic comfort zone.

Having also struggled with procrastination and motivation, Jackson added she was incredibly grateful for his help in finding her learning and writing process.

Advisor Sara Reilly was also available for Jackson, she said, guiding her through whatever hard times and struggles she felt at Forman.

There was also science teacher Wendy Welshans, who Jackson says she took a whitewater kayaking class with during her summer program and that she loved spending time with her. It was Welshans who helped Jackson foster a love and passion for science and inspired her to get into the Forman Rainforest Project, a special year-long class that also included a two-week trip to Costa Rica where students study the area’s ecology.

Since the class was only for returning students, Jackson knew it would be very hard to get into. Even so, she said she worked hard to get into the class and went through the interview process for it as best she could. When she got in, Jackson said, she was overjoyed.

It was the experiences in this program, in which she got to study the migration of birds, that made Jackson consider higher education for the first time. This was a big deal for Jackson, who said she did not see a future involving higher education for her after her first few years in high school.

All of these experiences culminated into Jackson being named the salutatorian of her class, something she says came as a “complete shock” to her. She said she always strived for high grades, especially at Forman where she found a learning style that worked for her.

“It was so amazing,” Jackson said. “I didn’t expect it at all, but I felt very proud of myself because I definitely worked super hard. It was kind of this validation that everything that I had been working for paid off.”

This led to her delivering a speech to her fellow classmates on the school’s Senior Appreciation Night, conducted in the school’s theater.

She picked a quote featured at the end of her favorite movie, Meet the Robinsons, to serve as the foundation of her speech. The quote, which comes from animation pioneer Walt Disney, is based around the mentality of not looking backwards for long and to instead “keep moving forward.”

Jackson believed the quote would resonate with her fellow classmates at Forman because she felt like a lot of them had struggled in the past with school.

“When we came to Forman, not all of us thought we were going to graduate,” Jackson said. “And now look where we are. We’re all graduating and going off to college, which is just such an incredible feat for us.”

A Full Circle Moment

She said the idea of delivering a speech in front of students, faculty, and her parents was a “nerve wracking experience” since she had no idea how her message would be perceived. While she carried nerves about whether her speech was boring or if it would go over people’s heads, Jackson said all those feelings went away when she got up on stage.

Delivering the speech, and especially delivering it at the school’s theater, Jackson says was a full circle moment for her. When she began attending Forman, she also returned to the stage. She wanted to stay behind the scenes as a stage manager, but was encouraged by others to audition. Still unsure of whether she wanted to even be on stage anymore, she took a chance and auditioned.

Jackson ended up participating in six shows during her time at Forman, including playing the lead’s love interest in the 2024 spring production. Returning to the stage was big for her, as she says she was very shy and timid growing up and never wanted the spotlight.

“And it’s this huge growth after thinking I wanted to stay in the ensemble or be in the background. So seeing my development through not only the academic stuff, but also in my confidence during theater was really awesome,” Jackson said. “I came out of my shell so much.”

Forman School conducted its Class of 2024 commencement exercises on June 1.

Jackson plans to attend UMass at Amherst with a major in horticulture. She says she really loves hydroponics — the technique of growing plants using water-based nutrient solutions without soil — and is looking forward to implementing that and vertical farming into urban cities to help bring those areas fresh produce.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.