Gravitas can’t be measured, but you can see it and hear it in Spruce Mountain senior Jordan Daigle, who unknowingly acquired this particular skill as an exceptional and civic-minded student — and a talented athlete.
Spruce Mountain’s Jordy Daigle gets ready to take the field during a recent baseball game at Griffin Field in Livermore Falls.
According to our good friends at Oxford Living Dictionaries, gravitas means “dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of manner.”
Gravitas eludes some people. Daigle exudes it.
The honor student has been on a mission since kindergarten. He excelled at the speed of light in the classroom where his academic achievements have taken him to his next stop — Harvard University.
“If you ask anybody, I told them I was planning on going to UMaine because I knew the Ivy League really has a competitive admission process,” Daigle said. “I knew qualified people who got turned down and deserved to get in.
“I told myself I would not let it define myself — whether I get in or not. So I wouldn’t put that expectation on myself and tell people where I wanted to go. I kept a little more low-key, and if I got in, that would be great.
“Now if you look at it from a purely numbers standpoint, like Harvard’s admit point was 4.5 percent and Columbia’s was 5.5 percent. So just doing the math, it is sort of surprising, but it is also extremely rewarding. It is like an overwhelming sense of gratitude.”
Mention Daigle’s name to any teacher or coach in the crowded halls of Spruce Mountain High School and a smile appears followed by endless praise about the 2018 valedictorian.
“As the former Jay School Department and current RSU 73 Gifted and Talented coordinator, I have had the pleasure of working with Jordan since the first grade,” Rob Taylor said. “He is the consummate student, challenging himself with difficult classes and putting in the hours of work needed to succeed.
“He has already completed a number of college courses, such as psychology and Latin. He took my Advanced Placement environmental science class last year and his work was superb and he crushed the AP test.
“I am going to miss Jordy, as he has been part of my life for a long time.”
Daigle is polite, incredibly bright, sincere and all of his amiable attributes explain why prestigious colleges and universities came a courtin’ the two-sport athlete with enticing academic scholarships.
But unconditional love and high expectations from his loving and dedicated parents — Jason and Janet Daigle — had a lot to do with their son’s numerous academic milestones. Like Jordan, his brother Joshua — a Lewiston fireman — is also a gentleman. Raising the brothers was a cakewalk for their parents.
“I think we knew at a young age he was going to do very well,” said Jason Daigle, an engineer at the Verso paper mill. “He stayed the course. A lot of people sometimes get off the tracks a little bit. He stayed the course. We knew at 3, 4 years old he had some special abilities.”
“We gave him as many opportunities as we could,” said Janet Daigle, an elementary school teacher. “We love him. Both of our boys have been easy. I hope he will meet some lifetime friends there like he has in high school.”
Daigle was this close to attending the University of Maine with a full boat scholarship before Harvard and Columbia University tried to lure the kid from the foothills of Maine to Cambridge, Mass., or New York City.
He spent the past couple of weeks weighing whether to attend Harvard or Columbia, which would place him in the vicinity of the New York Yankees — his favorite team.
It left Janet Daigle pacing the halls wondering which college her son would choose.
“I have been sick about the whole thing since it started,” Janet said. “Honestly, as a mother, you worry all the time: ‘Is this the right field,’ and that sort of thing.
“I am very happy because (Harvard) is closer. He is a Yankees fan and he loves New York. I was shocked when he chose Harvard. I would have bet money he would have picked Columbia.”
It was one of the most difficult decisions of his promising young life. It is a dream scenario for any high school senior who wants to attend college.
But the Crimson won over Daigle, who will be “pahking his cah in Hahvahd Yahd” come September and mingling with Bay Staters who speak rapidly and ignore the consonant “r.”
“I looked at New York and a lot of the people that were at Columbia were from New York City, Jersey, a lot connections were from that area,” Jordan Daigle said. “To be quiet honest, (Harvard) felt a little like home. It is not as far away.
“You know going from a small school to a major school like that, it is going to be enough change in itself, so I figured that adding change from Jay to New York City would be a lot of adjusting. Adjusting to Cambridge will be big, too. Cambridge was a lot smaller, a lot more of a small-town feeling than New York City.”
Harvard also offers Daigle an opportunity to meet people from all over the planet.
“I think it is going to be exciting for many reasons,” Jordan said. “I think the first one is a variety of people — in the school as well as in the city. I love Jay and I love Maine, but it is very homogeneous, not a lot of diversity. I am looking forward to going to classes with people from a different country.”
Daigle has always been wise beyond his years and expects a lot from himself.
“You can do everything to foster (learning), but with him, it has always been innate,” his mother said. “He is very hard on himself. That is the only thing.
“He is very humble. He doesn’t brag. He has actually tutored some students and adults. He did so much behind the scenes.”
Numbers tell the story
Jordan’s SAT scores are eye-opening accomplishments and make us all feel like slackers.
He scored an astounding 790 in math. A perfect score is 800. He was equally impressive in the reading and language section, copping a score of 770.
He is going out on top at Spruce Mountain, too, with a 98.6 grade-point average.
“Schools like this are looking for the total package, a kid who is active in class, extracurriculars and in the community,” Taylor said. “Jordan has done the Envirothon Program with me the last four years and has been a member of two state championship teams, attending the North American Championships in Ontario his sophomore year and in Maryland his junior year.
“In Envirothon the kids do a lot of community service. Jordan has helped do a community tree inventory with the Farmington Conservation Commission — a watershed survey with the Friends of Wilson Lake, and has collected water quality data for the Livermore Falls Water District. The Tuesday of April vacation last month, there was a Planning Board meeting in Jay about rezoning the shoreland of our drinking water source. Jordy was there.
“The Community Free Store, a clothing recycling program for those in need at St. Rose Parish, has needed help with moving clothing racks and setting up. Jordy was there. He is the kind of kid that wants to make a difference in the world.”
Jordan was ahead of the game in junior high, completing his math requirements before he stepped foot in Spruce Mountain High School.
During “Shut Off the TV Week” in kindergarten, his mother caught a glimpse of Jordan reading a newspaper to satisfy his sports fix.
“Momma, I am reading the paper,” Jordan said. “How can I get my sports scores without watching the TV. He was looking at box scores and I said, ‘This is crazy.'”
Spruce Mountain’s Jody Daigle (12) drives to the basket as Mountain Valley’s William Bean (15) and William Sorensen (5) try to intervene in the first half of a Mountain Valley Conference basketball game at the Phoenix Dome last season. (Tony Blasi/Sun Journal)
He’s got options
Daigle will be majoring in chemical engineering, which offers him plenty of opportunities in a field that will challenge his sharp mind.
But the young man with the reassuring smile and quiet demeanor wants to use his well-endowed brain to help humanity.
“Anything like creating additives to food to adding chemicals to gasoline,” Jordan said. “You can do like anything like biofuels, work for pharmaceutical companies. Finding the right chemicals to make (pills) dissolve at the right time. I think that is really interesting, or work in the agricultural end.
“I think that is really interesting, but I can see working for a pharmaceutical company, too. I think both of them have a positive impact. Think how many times you take a pill and I also think the biofuels is growing as we ease away from gasoline.”
Being a good sport
Jordan, a pitcher/third baseman and a guard for the Phoenix basketball team, believes academics and sports go hand in hand and help open the door to any college.
“Those things you learn on the court or on the field — dealing with adversity,” Jordan said. “I think sports has prepared me for when you don’t feel like doing homework or it’s like having a bad grade or bad game.
“You just have to shake it off and move on. I really didn’t deal with failure in the academic sense. Giving up six runs in a baseball game is a tough thing to deal with.”
Spruce Mountain basketball coach Scott Bessey is in “awe” of Jordy’s acceptance to a university with a worldwide reputation.
“Super excited for him,” Bessey said. “This was earned through years of hard work and sacrifice. He deserves everything he gets.
“(It’s a) pretty remarkable accomplishment, but if there was going to be someone that I’ve coached get accepted at Harvard, it would be Jordy. He’s next level when it comes to hard work, intelligence and a desire to succeed.
“His time management skills are off the charts and he’s a great example of what a student athlete can accomplish. Jordy makes it possible for me to chuckle when I hear the excuse from others, ‘I don’t have time.’”
Spruce Mountain baseball coach Brian Dube is also proud of Jordan’s admission to Harvard University.
“Doesn’t surprise me,” Dube said with a grin. “He is a smart kid and he’s had a choice between Harvard and Columbia. He’s earned it. I am happy for him.”
A grateful guy
Jordan has a lot of unfinished business before he leaves Spruce Mountain with a diploma in his hand.
He is a one-man juggernaut when it comes to getting things done. Jordan is busy composing and tailoring his valedictorian speech for the masses at Spruce’s graduation. There’s the baseball season and other commitments to fulfill before he begins strutting around Harvard Yard.
“Jordan’s Envirothon team scored over 440 points/500 at the Southwestern Regional Envirothon Competition (recently),” Taylor said. “The average team score was 309/500. They qualified for the state championships in Bridgton on May 25.”
Jordan hasn’t forgotten his teachers and parents who helped take him to this level and steer him into an Ivy League school.
It’s that humility thing that keeps him grounded as well as his genuine modesty that makes people want to do things for him.
“I just want to say thank you to all my teachers, coaches, anybody, whether it be in sports or like community events,” Jordan said. “I would like to say thank you to anybody who had anything to do with me. It sounds corny, but anybody who lends you a helping hand in that process — I wrote a lot about Jay in my college applications and it has shaped who I am.”
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