Caleb Haseltine (left) accepts the American flag from New Hampshire state representative, Doug Thomas.
HUDSON, N.H. – If you want to know about the different heights you can reach while attending the Wilbur H. Palmer Center at Alvirne High School, just ask Caleb Haseltine.
The senior and Londonderry native is in the midst of his third school year commuting south to the Palmer Center located on the campus of Alvirne High School and it can confidently be said that he’ll have experienced plenty of variety by the time he graduates. Haseltine began with a heavy diesel class during his sophomore year, but he continually expanded his horizons over the following two years by joining the Air Force Junior ROTC program, then began taking part in the welding program this fall.
“I originally wanted to be an aviation technician,” said Haseltine on what drew him to come to the Palmer Center. “There’s a long history of mechanics in my family and there’s also a long history of the military, so I thought why not do that in the military. The original plan was to join the Air Force, but then plans changed and I decided to go Spec War.”
Haseltine was referring to the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, which is more commonly known as the Navy Seals, the United States Navy component of the Joint Special Operations Command. He has already taken a key step in this career pursuit, as he was recently honored with a contracting by the NSWDG.
“Getting contracted essentially sets me up for BUDS, which is Basic Underwater Diving School,” said Haseltine. “That’s what you would go to after basic training for the Navy. It’s six to eight months and it’s the Navy Special Forces’ way of weeding out the weak ones,” he said with a smile.
Haseltine certainly had to earn that contracting status, as he was physically tested with drills that included swimming 500 yards and running a mile and a half in a certain amount of time and plenty of push-ups and chin-ups along the way too. With his testing completed, Haseltine can now look forward to further training, which includes being shipped out to separate locations in Illinois, California, and Florida for multiple months.
It can be hectic for the senior to pack everything into his day-to-day to stay on his current journey, but he finds a way through an always-changing schedule.
“I typically start my day with English class in Londonderry,” said Haseltine. “From there, I would come in [to the Palmer Center at Alvirne] and do the diesel class, then I would move into the welding section and end my day at JROTC. When I have training going on, I would just go to English at Londonderry, then I would start driving to wherever I need to go. Some places are within an hour and some places are three to five hours away.”
Haseltine is far from the only student at the Palmer Center who commutes to attend classes, as the offerings are available to a myriad of area high schools. When asked how he would convince someone who is looking into CTE to give it a try, he said the variety of options is really what stands out.
“I’d say first, look at the programs,” said Haseltine. “They have a lot of options. If something sticks out to you, just sign up and sign up for multiple programs if you want to have a higher chance of getting into them and invest yourself in them. Between the mechanics program and the ROTC, it helped me get structure and gain the knowledge I needed to become a technician. With ROTC, it gave me that background and helped me mature to become the person I am today.”
That maturity and structure gained during his time in Hudson will go a long way for Haseltine, who has plenty of ambition when it comes to his post-high school career. He mentioned he would ultimately like to be in the Navy Seals, then get to Seal Team Six from there to be a part of their high-profile missions.
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For more information on the Wilbur H. Palmer Career & Technical Education Center and its offerings, you can visit their website at sau81.org/cte/index or contact the center’s director, Dr. Eric Frauwirth, at efrauwirth@sau81.org.