Nicholas Cathcart
2006 MAX Fellow
Thomas A. Edison Middle School, Brighton, MA
In 2006, Nicholas shared his story about the death of his father, and the courage it took to overcome this devastating loss. Nicholas writes:
“The curriculum was able to help me find the words to describe the loss of my father and turn something traumatic into something powerful. I went from feeling like a victim to feeling like a warrior who was fighting to make my family proud.”
Nicholas graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Brown University and recently completed his Master’s in Special Education at Xavier University. He currently serves as a Senior Special Education Compliance Specialist at Success Academy Charter Schools, where he focuses on supporting high school students with special needs in preparing for their SATs and AP exams, ensuring they are fully prepared for the college application process.
Nicholas’ Essay
Jane Long and Judy White, Teachers
Thomas A. Edison Middle School
“To me, courage is overcoming an obstacle in your life by reaching deep within yourself.”
April 9th, 2004: A day that changed my life forever. It was a Friday morning and I happened to have a day off from school. I woke up to see my father with his hand over his heart and his other hand over his head. He was very pale, just lying there on the couch in the living room. I didn’t think anything was wrong until a few moments later. My mom called 9-1-1 right after she saw him. Sadly, it was too late. He had died of heart disease.
To me, courage is overcoming an obstacle in your life by reaching deep within yourself. I would have to reach pretty deep to overcome this obstacle. This was the worst tragedy in my life to this day.
My mother started calling my relatives. I was brought to a friend’s house. I was less mature than I am now. I was ten then and I am twelve now. Because I was less mature, I didn’t take my father’s death as well as I thought I would. After my father’s body was taken out of the house, a lot of relatives came over. They really helped comfort me. Three days later was my dad’s funeral. At that point, I had risen up over my emotions to try to comfort my family in their time of need. I had no idea, however, what I would have to rise up against in the near future.
After the funeral, I finally learned that my family was broke. My father had lost his job a few months earlier and he couldn’t find a new one. The kids at my school were extremely generous. They raised over one hundred dollars. But we still faced hard times. Somehow, my family managed to survive until my mother got social security benefits in August. Although sometimes we still had money trouble, when we had an obstacle, we rose up to overcome it.
After the summer of 2004 I went back to school. Going back to school may have built back my life. During third and fourth term report cards I got straight “A’s.” I got an academic award at Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston. At my graduation I won seven awards. I have risen up to overcome every obstacle in my life since my father’s death. I have showed courage ever since that day, and the story still continues today.