DIXFIELD — Justin Mackin and Myriah Porter have very clear goals for their future after they graduate from Dirigo High School on Friday.

The two are the Class of 2012’s valedictorian and salutatorian and have vastly different career choices.

Mackin, of Canton, is the son of Barbara and Joseph Mackin. He said he always has been argumentative and can see both sides of an issue, so has decided to major in political science at Syracuse University with the goal of becoming a lawyer.

Porter, of Peru, is the daughter of Nona Holland and Jeff Porter. She plans to follow in the family tradition as a firefighter. She will attend Southern Maine Community College in the fall in a three-year program with majors in fire science and paramedicine.

She began her career at age 12 when she would help roll hoses and sweep the floors at the Peru Fire Station. At age 14, she could attend calls and do training with firefighters. She was proud to have finished first in structural firefighting at age 15.

She’s the secretary of the Peru Fire Association and captain of the regional junior firefighter group that covers several towns including Dixfield, Peru, Canton and East Dixfield.

Besides being a top student at Dirigo, she has also attended fire science classes at Foster Vocational Tech in Farmington.

Her grandparents, uncles and parents have all been involved in firefighting.

She loves the firefighting career because she can help people at the worst times in their lives.

“If an accident or a house is burning down, it (helping) makes them a little better off,” she said.

She remembers a Christmas Eve chimney fire when a 3-year-old was very worried that Santa couldn’t get into her home.

“I gave her a stuffed animal and could see her eyes light up,” Porter said.

Mackin has thoroughly enjoyed his membership in the Dirigo speech and debate team. He’s the only member of the team to qualify for the nationals, which take place in Indianapolis right after graduation. He’ll be backed up and cheered on by several other members of the team.

Plans to become a lawyer were reinforced when he job shadowed an Auburn attorney and reviewed a judge’s ruling.

“At that point, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. There’s no technical right or wrong, but the ability to use the information,” he said.

At the nationals he’ll be arguing both sides of the question: The government has an obligation to reduce the economic gap between rich and poor.

“It’s much easier now to see both sides. I’ve heard so many good points that the only answer is a compromise,” he said.

Both students value learning and doing the best they can.

“I like to represent me. I don’t want to put forth bad work and I try to find everything interesting. I don’t like just half knowing something,” Mackin said.

Porter said she has always been a perfectionist and very competitive, with herself.

“Never focus on being better than anyone else except who you were yesterday,” she said. “People think I’m competitive with everyone else, but I’m just competitive who I was yesterday.”

She is a member of the National Honor Society and in previous high school years, played soccer and softball.

Mackin is also a member of the National Honor Society and also has played basketball, participated in Mock Trial, and played golf.

He leaves for the debate nationals immediately after he graduates Friday night.

Porter moves to the Gray Fire Rescue building June 10. She’ll join young people from 20 other fire departments from southern Maine who plan to attend SMCC.

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