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Brunswick High School

High school prepared Brunswick graduates for next chapter By Allen Etzler, Frederick News Post, May 31, 2018

After attending 10 different schools in his life, R.J. Baber found a home at Brunswick High School.

So much so, that when his parents asked him to move again in his junior year, he refused.

“I wanted to stay at Brunswick,” he said. “We’d moved around so much, I just wanted to stay here and graduate with my friends.”

So, at 17, Baber decided that he would move out of his parents’ home and live on his own.

On Wednesday, Baber finished his journey, becoming the first member of his family to walk across a graduation stage as part of the Railroaders Class of 2018.

“I’ve loved my time at Brunswick,” Baber said. “It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve felt like part of the family. I’ve had to grow up a lot, but I’m looking forward to getting out there in the world and having to grow up even more.”

Brunswick’s class of 198 students highlighted the small, family feel of the group, but also the potential of what this relatively small graduating class could achieve in the future. Student speaker Audrey Lee encouraged her classmates to stay true to themselves, but to also take risks and chase their dreams.

“If not succeeding won’t kill you or seriously harm you, then why not take the risk?” she asked her classmates.

Some students in this Brunswick class are taking that advice to heart with hopes of chasing after big goals. Kealy Murphy recently found a letter she wrote to herself in fourth grade. In it, she said her goal was to learn division that year.

In the next four years, her goal is to learn how to build rockets that will launch into orbit.

After graduation, Murphy plans to attend University of Maryland, College Park, on an Air Force ROTC scholarship where she will major in aerospace engineering.

“I plan to design rockets for SpaceX,” she said.

Murphy has long had an interest in space, and is a self-proclaimed “space nerd.” Her stepmother in an engineer, and the path to be an engineer seemed obvious to her.

“I’ve always had strong women as role models in my life, so I never really realized that it’s a male-dominated industry until I started taking the STEM classes,” Murphy said. “But it’s what I’ve loved most for as long as I can remember.”

For other students, like Carlos Lopez, just getting to graduation day is a victory in itself. As a freshman, Lopez had no desire to go to school.

But as he got older, he developed a desire to enter the military as a mechanic. He also realized that to get there, he needed to get through high school.

“I really needed to work to pass those classes,” Lopez said. “School really wasn’t for me, but I knew I had to finish. That’s what I’m most proud of — that I made it. We made it.”

For Baber, graduation marked a similar occasion — a moment to realize what he can accomplish.

While living on his own, Baber worked two jobs — one at a landscaping company and another at Subway — to be able to pay rent and make ends meet.

Being motivated to attend school each day while living on his own was a challenge, he said. But he knew the importance of getting his diploma and what it would mean. All of the challenges he endured while living on his own helped him on his path to enlist in the Army, he said.

Baber has wanted to enter the military since he was 10 years old. He grew up in a military family, and had a sense of duty to become a soldier. He loved getting the chance to travel as his family moved around.

He just couldn’t leave Brunswick until he finished the mission.

“I’m so proud to be up there with all my friends today,” Baber said. “As the first person with my last name to graduate, even when things are down, or don’t look so good, I know I can turn things around.”