For the MacLean family in Scarborough, this year’s Scarborough High School valedictorian announcement is a case of like granddaughter, like grandmother, like great-grandmother.

Caterina L. MacLean is the school’s No. 1 student in the graduating class of 2009. That distinction has the 18-year-old scholar following in the footsteps of her grandmother Nancy MacLean, formerly Libby, and great-grandmother Abbie Libby, formerly Small.

Nancy, Caterina’s paternal grandmother, was Scarborough High School’s valedictorian in 1952. Nancy’s mother, Abbie, was the school’s valedictorian in 1920.

“When I heard that Caterina had been named the valedictorian, I was definitely happy,” Nancy said. “It wasn’t something I was surprised about, but I knew of the distinction.”

Caterina, who will deliver her class’s valedictorian speech during graduation on Sunday, June 14, at 7 p.m., said she knows of the ancestral distinction, which impresses her more than being named valedictorian.

“Becoming valedictorian wasn’t something that I strived for, it just sort of happened,” Caterina said. “It’s a big deal, but I would tend to think that it would be more likely to happen in families. I would think that it would be a hereditary thing.”

Still, neither Caterina nor Nancy lose sleep at night pondering the award.

For the MacLean family, academics happen naturally, more because of a gift for learning than a drive to succeed, Nancy said.

When she earned her award in 1952, she was caught off guard. Being valedictorian wasn’t uppermost in her mind.

“My mother expected me to study and do well, but she never drove me to become the top of my class,” Nancy said. “I liked to read and just did what I thought I was supposed to do and it happened that I became valedictorian like my mother.”

Caterina, named after her mother’s surname, wasn’t pushed to succeed academically, either, her mother, Jean-Marie Caterina said.

“This validates what we already knew,” she said. “She started reading books at 2, but we never had to nag her to study or keep up with her schoolwork. She just did it.”

For Caterina, like her grandmother and great-grandmother, learning is a talent.

“It’s just something I’m good at,” she said. “Some people excel in sports or music, but I happened to be good at school.”

Maybe the academic success can be attributed to the MacLeans’ home at 311 Gorham Road.

Abbie raised her family in the house, so Nancy grew up there as did Caterina.

“Maybe it does have something to do with the house,” Nancy joked. “It is a part of us, a part of our family, so you never know.”

Caterina is quick to point out, however, that she and her grandmothers were not the only valedictorians in the family.

Abbie’s mother, Bertha M. Small, formerly Berry, earned the honor at Cornish High School in 1899. Laura MacLean, Caterina’s aunt, was Deering High School’s valedictorian in 1984, and in 1944 and 1945, Nancy’s cousins Brenton and Marion Dodge were valedictorians at Scarborough High School.

“None of us were ever pushed to be No. 1 in our classes,” Nancy said. “We worked at school like everyone else, but it seems to have happened that it worked out that way.”

Caterina plans to study political science at the University of Chicago.

As for being valedictorian, like so many of her relatives, both she and her grandmother perceive the award and high school as a small part of life.

“Right now this is interesting and exciting,” Caterina said. “But I don’t want high school to be the best time of my life. I did some quick calculations and found that if a person lives to be 80, 15 percent of their time would’ve been spent in secondary compulsory education. The other 85 percent is spent out of school.”

Reading is a constant in the MacLean family. Nancy loves to read, as did her mother. Caterina, who has grown up with video games and the Internet, said she considers herself an avid reader despite the distractions her grandmothers didn’t face.

“It’s just something I like to do,” Caterina said. “I was never, however, allowed to have Gameboys even when I was younger in second and third grade when everyone had one. That wasn’t something I was interested in and I was never really allowed to get too caught up in those things, so even to this day it’s not something I’m interested in. I like the sensation of being caught up in stories.”

For Nancy, too, reading was a pastime.

“We were expected to do chores and work around the house, but on Saturdays my mother would have us finish our chores, then we’d bake and for the rest of the day we’d read.”

Caterina never knew Abbie, who died just before her great-granddaughter was born. Like Abbie and Nancy, however, Caterina loves to also play music.

Abbie played the piano and directed the church choir for many years and also headed up a musical review.

“She did know how to sing, but piano was her main interest and love when it came to music,” Nancy said.

Nancy dabbled in the piano and played the flute but doesn’t play much now, she said. Caterina plays the clarinet and tenor saxophone.

“I’ve never taken it that seriously, accept for jazz theory,” Caterina said.

Jean-Marie, however, acknowledges that Caterina and her grandmothers have a special connection. She said she views the academics, love for reading and ability to play music as a hereditary link that can’t be broken.

The younger MacLean is writing her speech for Graduation Day. She said she wants it to differ from other valedictorian speeches.

In the vein of both her grandmothers, who strove to be good at life and not specifically academics, so too does Caterina want her speech to reflect the lives of her relatives, her friends and those moving forward in life.

“I’m comfortable because I don’t care about speaking in front of people,” said Caterina, who earlier this year received the highest score at a national academic decathlon event in Tennessee.

“I did write a draft of it, but I’m not an intensely sentimental person. I’m not particularly sad to be leaving high school, nor do I think my friends will be, so it’s not in any way sentimental or one of those stereotypical ‘reach for your dreams, you can do whatever you try for’ things.

“It’s a discussion of how education is very important, but education you learn in the real world is different than what you learn in high school or even college.”

Nancy MacLean is justifiably proud of her granddaughter, Caterina MacLean, who is carrying on a family tradition as valedictorian of the Class of 2009 at Scarborough High School.Caterina MacLean’s aunt, Laura MacLean, was valedictorian of the Deering High School Class of 1984.Caterina MacLean’s grandmother, Nancy Libby MacLean, was valedictorian of the Scarborough High School (when it was in the Arlberg Ski and Sport building) Class of 1952.Caterina MacLean’s great-great-grandmother, Bertha Berry Small, was valedictorian of the Cornish High School Class of 1899. Caterina MacLean’s great-grandmother, Abbie Small Libby, was valedictorian of the Scarborough High School (when it was in the Bessey School) Class of 1920.

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