Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School senior Carlee-Mae Cash, right, has been selected to receive the MPA Principal’s Award. Also pictured, OHCHS Principal Paul Bickford. Supplied photo

PARIS — Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Principal Paul Bickford has announced that senior Carlee-Mae Cash of Norway has been selected to receive the MPA’s Principal’s Award. The award is presented to high school seniors to recognize their academic achievements and citizenship.

Cash serves as president of her class and also for the school’s National Honor Society. She has played on OHCHS’ varsity field hockey team since she was a freshman and was team captain during the 2022 season. She has logged about 150 of community service, naming the Cancer Resource Center of Western Maine in Norway as her favorite place to volunteer. For the last two years she has also acted as a Viking Mentor, working to help incoming freshman acclimate to high school and learn the ropes.

“I was surprised and very excited when Mr.Bickford told me that I had won the award,” Cash told the Advertiser Democrat. “Many students from previous classes who had won this award during their senior year I had admired very much, so I felt very honored to be among them now.

“I was not expecting this award but I am so grateful and appreciative for it and I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without the support from all of my teachers and the community since freshman year.”

“Carlee has exemplified the qualities of a Principal’s Award recipient by displaying academic excellence, outstanding school leadership, and service to her community,” said Bickford in an email statement. “Carlee is a great role model for others and has had a significant positive impact on the OHCHS community.”

Cash has earned a certificate from the University of Maine in pre-med and participated in UMaine’s Cohen Leadership Institute. She has not chosen which college she attend after graduating but her plans are to major in either pre-med or biology and then attend medical school to pursue either cardiology, orthopedics or surgery.

“My favorite class I’ve ever taken was AP Bio and I truly have a passion for learning about the sciences,” she said. “No matter what I do I just want to be helping people feel better, and giving back to my community that got me here in the first place.”

All award recipients and their high school principals are invited to attend an honors luncheon, to be held on April 12 at Jeff’s Catering & Event Center in Brewer.

Each student is presented with an award plaque during the luncheon. Additionally, 10 Principal’s Award winners will receive a $1,000 scholarship chosen through a lottery drawing. The scholarships are named for three former Maine principals and MPA executive directors Haroace O. McGowan, Richard W. Tyler, and Richard A. Drost.

In 2020 Marissa Paine of Paris received the award and $1,000 Richard A Durost scholarship and in 2019 Annie Choi of Paris won the award, along with the Richard W. Tyler scholarship.