From beekeeping to running for office, Merrimack Valley High School students show off wide-ranging senior projects

Merrimack Valley High School senior Liam Fecteau remembers his first fire.

About two years ago, Fecteau responded to a two-acre blaze in the woods off Plains Road in Salisbury.

“We were there for seven hours,” said Fecteau, a volunteer firefighter with the Salisbury Fire Department. The brush fire was so big that they had to return the next day.

Last Thursday, the same day brush fires ignited across the Capital Region, Fecteau showed off the leather radio strap he made for his senior project, a Merrimack Valley High School graduation requirement and rite of passage.

For many students, including Fecteau, the project is an opportunity to work on something in line with a professional ambition. Fecteau, a Salisbury resident, has served on the volunteer fire department in his town for four years, through an organization called Salisbury Explorers.

Hours before showing off his radio strap, Fecteau learned he had been accepted into the state’s fire academy. He plans to become a full-time firefighter and ultimately join the New Hampshire Forest Service and become a HazMat Technician.

Though Fecteau already has a radio strap of his own, he wanted to make one for a newer member of his group. He worked with his mentor, Lieutenant Tom Ciccarello, on the project.

Four other notable senior projects:

Kaleigh Booth

Project: Dog dock diving

Hometown: Boscawen

Booth was inspired to get into dog dock diving by her mother. The sport involves dogs jumping into the water off of docks in a series of different disciplines, including high and long jump and “speed retrieve,” which is a timed race.

The family got Apollo, a two-year-old black Labrador, specifically for the sport.

“He’s really skinny, and so he’s able to go farther and not just plop in the water,” Booth said.

The pair have entered several competitions so far across New England, including at the Hopkinton State Fair. Apollo’s best discipline is long jump, where his personal best is 20 feet.

Booth’s treat of choice while training Apollo is Cheerios.

Christian Danforth

Project: A campaign for state representative

Hometown: Loudon

There’s some dispute in the Danforth family about the origins of Christian’s political ambitions. He says he began thinking about a run for office during the pandemic; his mother believes it was more like at age five.

Regardless, Danforth plans to be on the ballot this fall. His senior project involved launching his campaign.

Danforth feels that young people should have more representation in the State House, where in 2025, the median age of state representatives was 61, according to Rutgers University’s Center for Youth Political Participation. There are systemic barriers to participation in state politics, he argues.

“It’s designed in a way that makes it difficult for young people to get involved because the New Hampshire House seats are more of an honor position than a job,” he said.

Danforth, a Republican, will likely face a primary. He is running in the same district as Republican Reps. Jose Cambrils and Michael Moffett.

Danforth said the hardest part of the campaign so far has been figuring out how to meet potential voters. He has turned to an old-fashioned campaign resource: the local newspaper, the Loudon Ledger.

Danforth plans to commute to Saint Anselm College next year, where he will study political science.

“I want to be the governor someday,” he said. “This is a first step to getting involved.”

Avagale Vogt

Project: Tattooing

Hometown: Rochester

Vogt wants to become a licensed tattoo artist, and so she figured she would practice.

For her senior project, she designed an image of barbed wire and two butterflies, which she tattooed on her thigh. The tattoo symbolizes “change and overcoming,” she said.

The tattoo started to hurt partway through, but she kept going.

“I was already halfway through, and was like, ‘I gotta continue it now’,” she said.

Vogt now has three tattoos, all of which are self-done. The process involves lots of prep, she said. First, she sketches the drawing on special tattoo paper, then she transfers it to her skin and goes over it with a tattoo gun.

Vogt plans to go to trade school and then get an apprenticeship at a tattoo shop.

Ben Newton

Project: Beekeeping

Hometown: Andover

Newton’s grandfather, who lives in Penacook, has kept a beehive for as long as he can remember. This year, Newton decided to help him out with it.

Newton learned to spray oxalic acid in the hive to prevent a mite infestation, as well as the process for winterizing the hive, which contains a couple thousand bees.

Surprisingly, he was only stung once.

“One of the bees got stuck in my shoe, and by the time I noticed, it got agitated and stung me,” Newton said.

Unlike some of his classmates, the project was not an opportunity to explore a career path — Newton is off to Colby-Sawyer College to study psychology and is interested in ultimately becoming a sports psychologist.

But the experience did prove to be a great opportunity to bond with his grandfather over beekeeping.

“He had lost interest in it because I think he had a bad season and some of the bees died,” Newton said, “but I guess I helped him refind passion in it.”