Nine years ago, the idea for LTP Scholars was born in a kitchen. This spring, it filled a room with families, coaches, educators and seven young people who had the courage to stand up and tell their stories.
The 2026 Graduation and Signing Day Ceremony was many things, a celebration, a send-off, a reflection on how far this community has come. But at its center were the graduates themselves and the words Executive Director Jean Bartlett offered about each of them said more about LTP Scholars than any milestone or statistic could.
The evening opened with a celebration of two LTP Academy student-athletes whose next chapters are ones to watch. Jackson Nichols will continue his academic and athletic career at California Lutheran University, while Molly Paige Steinfort who graduated from LTP Scholars in 2025 and spent this year on a gap year has earned an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. The LTP community celebrated both with the pride of a family watching its own.
Camden Manganaro, Bartlett said, is “a man of faith, a man of honor and a young man with deep compassion for others, authentic, vulnerable, intelligent and thoughtful in the way he moves through the world.” She described his four years as a journey of stepping fully into himself: “What makes Camden exceptional is not perfection, it is his willingness to reflect, grow and become stronger through those experiences.”
Alex Romanski arrived at LTP Scholars just two years ago, but left an impression that Bartlett said would last far longer. “You have a calm steadiness about you that draws people in,” she told him, “And beneath that quiet energy is a young man with tremendous heart and purpose.” What stood out most, she said, was his rare self-awareness: “You are not afraid to ask difficult questions about yourself or to seek ways to become a better man.”
George Hyden’s story, Bartlett told the audience, is one of the most powerful transformations LTP Scholars has ever witnessed. George first came to the program in fifth grade, stepped away and returned last May in a difficult place. What followed was a year of daily choices. “Every single day he walked through the doors of LTP Scholars, George made a choice,” Bartlett said. “He chose himself. He chose his health. He chose his future.” She was direct: “That is a kind of courage that cannot be taught in a classroom.”
Francie Pate is the last of her family to come through LTP Scholars and for Bartlett, that carried real weight. “Her graduation truly marks the end of an era for our community.” Francie’s dedication to the children at Meeting Street Academy, where she volunteered countless hours, was singled out as emblematic of who she is. “To those children, Francie is larger than life,” Bartlett said. “She is someone they admire, trust and adore. And truthfully, she is the same to us.”
Sutton Severance closed the graduate tributes and with him, another chapter. As the last Severance to walk across the LTP Scholars stage, his graduation brought Bartlett back to her very first week of teaching, when she drove home convinced she couldn’t do it. “Somewhere in that little schoolroom above the garage, amidst the lessons, the laughter, the uncertainty and the growth, we built something that mattered,” she reflected. “Not only have all of my original students graduated from high school, they have each launched into the next chapter of their lives with courage, character and purpose.”
The evening also honored the many people who make LTP Scholars what it is: educators, coaches, the yearbook dedicatees Brent and Sarah Thacker and the more than 40 students recognized by name for their service work with Meeting Street Academy. Bartlett closed with the theme she carried throughout the night, that gratitude, like this community, only compounds with time.
“What we have created here matters,” she said, “and each person in this room has played a role in shaping it.”
