Nathan Curtright moved to Benicia from Las Vegas, and although he could have attended Benicia High School, he figured it would not work with his schedule.

“I probably would have had to wake up around 4 and catch the bus,” he said. “It would have been a more difficult day.”

Instead, Curtright opted to go to Liberty High School, which is closer to where he lives. Despite having an uncle who attended the school many years ago and told him negative things, Curtright instantly felt welcome.

“I like the atmosphere of the school,” he said. “It’s really nice. Everyone here is nice. Teachers are outgoing and caring, so I decided to stay.”

Chloe Durocher initially began attending Benicia High, but felt it was too big and left to do independent study. Upon returning to public school, she decided to go to Liberty.

“The high school was just really scary for me,” she said. “I decided to try Liberty out, and it’s probably the best decision of my life.”

As Benicia Unified School District’s continuation high school, Liberty staff have been trying to move away from the perception that the school is a place that students are forced into because of previous academic records and rather promote it as a school of choice. For Durocher and Curtright, the choice to come to Liberty paid off well for them. They will be graduating as the respective valedictorian and salutatorian of their 2018 class.

“It’s kind of surreal for me because I never thought I’d be in this position considering where I started off,” Durocher said.

As is typical for a lot of Liberty’s top graduates, both Durocher and Curtright finished up their credits ahead of their peers and got to graduate early. Durocher finished her coursework in February, and Curtright is actually graduating as a junior, having accumulated a lot of credits through extra work and putting in volunteer hours at the school’s greenhouse.

“When I heard people were graduating early, I took advantage of it and said ‘OK, I’m gonna see if I can do that’ and I did,” he said.

“It took a lot of perseverance and work,” he said of his salutatorian rank.

Both students owe a lot of their success to the encouragement of their teachers.

“The teachers really motivated me to get on track,” Durocher said. “They really give you the confidence and the motivation to graduate and go above and beyond.”

“If you have a question from a teacher, they’ll come back and help you,” Curtright said. “It’s not like there’s a classroom of 30 to 40 kids. It’s about 10 to 20.”

Both students amassed a lot of fond memories in their time at Liberty, including the field days and field trips. Durocher enjoyed being in the leadership class and being editor of the yearbook.

“It’s cool to see how it turned out in the end,” she said.

Curtright enjoyed his outdoor education and science classes as well as the breakfasts prepared by Northgate Christian Fellowship every Thursday.

“That’s one of the main reasons I come to school,” he said. “I always look forward to Thursday.”

Durocher plans to attend community college in the fall and take film classes. Curtright said he plans to stay in town to help his mother out and then move back to Las Vegas and help his father with his business.

In terms of parting advice, Curtright wants fellow students to take advantage of opportunities and to be vocal when they need help.

“One thing I was told throughout life was ‘A closed mouth never gets fed,’” he said. “You have to ask for help, and you have to put in the time and effort.”

Durocher advises that students stay focused and to not feel discouraged if they do not end up going to college or doing what they originally wanted to do.

“Whatever you do with your life is what you want to do,” she said. “Don’t feel discouraged if you’re not doing what you want to do with your life yet. You have the rest of your life to figure it out. Everybody’s expected to go to college immediately after high school, and it’s OK if you don’t. You can work, do whatever you want just as long as you’re happy with what you’re doing.”

Liberty’s graduation will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, June 7 at the Benicia Yacht Club, located at 400 East Second St.