A time for transition

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Fern Langham of Sullivan West has gathered a treasure trove of memories from her last year of high school, and she now stands on the brink of a promising future.

With her friends, challenging courses, work, the Hollywood Nights prom, a thrilling senior trip to San Francisco and, of course, the great times she spent with her boyfriend, Bryan Sandler, it’s been a year she will never forget.

In a few weeks she will be heading off to the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University to study biomedical engineering. It’s a field that offers hope to people who are injured or disabled through the technology of prosthetics and other devices designed to improve quality of life. It’s a career perfectly suited for Langham, who says, “Putting a smile on people’s faces is the most gratifying thing.”

Helping others is not a new endeavor for Langham. She has been working as a volunteer at the Discovery Center since ninth grade, assisting in the Hippotherapy program as a sidewalker. In that capacity, it was her job to hold kids while they rode horses for therapy.

When it came to negotiating life’s challenging trails, Langham could always rely on the support of her parents, Peter and Joan, as well as her own resourcefulness and diligence.

Those qualities would be challenged again this past September when Langham, along with other students who once hailed from Jeff-Youngsville, Delaware Valley, and Narrowsburg, moved to the new high school. At last weekend’s graduation, she referred to the adjustment as “a series of changes and adventures.”

Resilient and focused intensely on her academics, Langham never broke stride as she worked arduously this year through advanced placement classes in calculus, biology, economics and government, English composition and English literature.

Particularly strong in math and science, Langham became interested in neuroscience while working on a research project on stem cells in a course offered by SUNY Albany.

Anxious to advance her studies, she took calculus at the University of Vermont in the summer after her sophomore year and physics at Penn State the following summer.

All the while, she worked on the school yearbook, seeing to it that deadlines were met and that pages looked just right. For the past two years, she served as layout editor.

Gifted when it comes to computers, Langham said, “I taught myself HTML and have learned how to make web pages on my own.”

Using Adobe Pagemaker to create attractive and innovative layouts was easy and fun. Those computer skills have also been helpful in a recent job in posting antique items on ebay.

Langham began her schooling in Monticello, but switched to the Jeffersonville-Youngsville district in third grade. She thrived in the personal atmosphere.

“Everyone knows each other here,” she said.

Not satisfied to just blend in, Langham made a concerted effort to manifest her individuality and to make an impact. In addition to graduating fourth in her class (summa cum laude), she was treasurer of the National Honor Society, vice president of the Spanish Honor Society and treasurer of the class of 2004.

Langham has received the New York State Lottery’s 2004 Leaders of Tomorrow scholarship, Syracuse University’s Dean Scholarship and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs scholarship. She is also the recipient of the Catskill Business and Professional Women’s Club scholarship and the Brian Ingber Scholarship.

Academics are not the only thing Langham has a passion for. There is also music, writing, and most of all, Bryan.

She minces no words when she talks about the significance of the relationship. He is heading off to the University of Buffalo as a pre-med student, yet she is confident that their relationship can survive the separation wrought by college.

“The good news is that I won’t distract him in class next year,” Langham said with a smile.

“Where do we go from here? Anywhere we want to,” Langham said at graduation. “We have more than potential. We have drive. Live your life to the fullest,” she told her classmates.

Fern Langham has already begun to take her own advice.

Upbeat, positive and energetic, this week’s youth in focus is optimistic about her future and she has every reason to feel that way.