According to Mt. Ararat High School English teacher Emily Vail, Nick Doughty couldn’t have a more suitable last name; a word that describes someone who is brave, resolute and courageous.

“If there’s anyone I can think of in our graduating class who’s going to take on a consequential leadership role, it would be Nick Doughty,” she said.

Throughout high school, the 2026 grad has encouraged his peers to participate in democracy with respect and dignity. He has stood up for causes that, he admits, put him at odds with administrators at times. And he has led his classmates in the classroom, on the football field and at the district level.

Doughty attributes many of these skills to his participation in the “Can We?” project, an initiative based out of Portland’s Waynflete School that challenges students to develop empathy for one another before engaging in political conversations. Doughty is a leader in the program and has even led MTA faculty through “Can We?” workshops.

For example, participants might be asked to tell a partner a story about their lives, then share their partner’s story to the group in the first person. Such exercises help participants put themselves in others’ shoes.

“People form their opinions based on their experiences, and maybe if I had grown up in different experiences, I would have different views.” Doughty said. “That makes it easier to understand and connect and appreciate and care for the person with differing opinions.” 

Doughty, who also helped start a debate team at MTA, challenges his teachers and classmates “in the best sense,” Vail said.

“He raises the level of discourse and challenges everyone in class to consider things from different points of view, to go deeper with his probing questions,” said Vail, his AP English literature teacher.

Doughty will continue to ask the big questions when he heads to the University of Chicago in the fall, where he will study philosophy.

The captain of MTA’s football team, Doughty has even applied a philosophical outlook to high school sports, describing the game as “going into battle with a group of friends.”

“It’s like a chess game with real people,” he said.

One of MTA’s seven valedictorians this year, Doughty will use his commencement speech to encourage others to reflect on Socrates’ concept of the gadfly — a person who is constantly buzzing in the ears of authority figures in an effort to call out societal injustice.

Doughty embodied the gadfly by pushing back on some schoolwide decisions, including a new policy — implemented at MTA and at districts across Maine — requiring students to lock their phones away at the start of the school day. He spoke in opposition of the policy at the school board and continues to comment on school guidelines through his role on student government.

“This young man is ‘doughty’ indeed,” Vail said.

MT. ARARAT GRADUATION DETAILS

WHEN: June 14 at noon

WHERE: The Learning Commons Lawn at Mt. Ararat High School

GOOD TO KNOW: MTA expects to graduate 165 seniors this year. Seven students with perfect GPAs will share the title of valedictorian.

MORE INFO: See the 2026 MTA guide to graduation for information including parking, tickets and more.

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