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Hernando Today

Honors Scene Fit For A Palace

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By TONY MARRERO

Published: April 27, 2008

SPRING HILL - SPRING HILL - The scene is the cavernous hall of the Palace Grand in Spring last Thursday evening.

Cut to Mari Pothier, an 18-year-old senior at Hernando High School, who sits in a black and white dress among 40 other high school students at the 34th Annual Honor Student Scholarship Banquet.

The event, sponsored by the Greater Hernando Chamber of Commerce and the Brooksville Kiwanis Club, recognizes the top 3 percent of the graduating classes of seven local high schools. Each student is sponsored by a local individual or businesses.

Hernando Today sponsored Pothier, daughter of Christine and Russell Pothier of Brooksville.

Over chicken and pasta, Pothier is recalling struggles with math, especially in pre-calculus. She got a tutor.

"I'm not a genius," she says, laughing. "My parents taught me never to give up. Over time I got a lot better in school, and now I'm here."

The Brooksville native earned a 4.2 weighted grade point average, good enough for third in the Class of 2008.

It wasn't just the math skills that improved. Richard Cofer, a history teacher at Hernando High, recalls Pothier as a "brilliant" but "shy and reserved" student.

"You need to open up some," Cofer would say. And Pothier, he recalls, did so.

She served as secretary in the National Honor Society, and also was a member of the French Honor Society and the Key Club.

Now she'll attend Flagler College in St. Augustine this fall, majoring in communications with a focus in broadcast journalism.

She wants to cover the sports beat.

A research paper she wrote as a sophomore for National History Day on baseball great Jackie Robinson earned second place honors in a countywide competition. But it's football that thrills her.

While Flagler isn't a football powerhouse, she loves the atmosphere of the big games at the University of Florida.

Stan Giannet, provost of Pasco-Hernando Community College and keynote speaker at the honors banquet, used philosopher Bertrand Russell's maxims to offer the students lessons on how to tackle life beyond high school.

"Use logic to question presumptions and assertions," Giannet said.

When Pothier tells people she's a diehard football fan who someday wants to cover the big games, they often reply, "Really? You don't look like the type."

"I didn't know there was a type," Pothier replies matter-of-factly.

But she has another career in mind that might even trump the sports beat.

"I want to make my own movies," she says.

Pothier took an Introduction to Film class at Hernando High, and even has an idea for a film set in Hernando County.

Cut to Wayne Alexander, superintendent of schools, addressing the students during Thursday's banquet and offering advice for college.

"Never be outworked by anyone," he advises.

There were nights when Christine and Russell Pothier had to warn their daughter she might be working a little too hard.

"Stop studying," they'd say. "Go to bed."

"She perseveres," says Christine Pothier, a former school teacher.

There also was help from above, says Christine Pothier, who attends St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Brooksville.

"Whenever something would go wrong, or I'd have a test, I'd always pray for Him to guide me and help me do my best," she said.

Cut to the Palace Grand stage. Pothier strides across the platform and shakes hands with Alexander.

The crowd applauds. She beams.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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