Each year, Morgan seniors graduate and start their lives as adults. 2018 Morgan graduate Brett Martin has been “extremely busy” ever since leaving high school. After graduating, he attended George Washington University, located in the heart of Washington D.C. He studied international affairs and history, obtaining a dual major degree when he graduated this past Spring. During his time there, he wrote his senior thesis on an Old Saybrook World War II veteran, Claude Zanni, which then won the best honors thesis award. The Old Saybrook Historical Society recently published this thesis, announcing Brett as an official author of a book titled, “For Home and Country: An American Family and the Second World War.”

 After graduating from GW, Brett traveled to Europe, where he visited thirteen countries. Directly after, he spent 3 months in Utah as part of an Americorps program. Working in a conservation corps, Brett performed jobs like removing invasive plants and barbed wire fencing, hiking around national parks, and spending time outdoors. Now, he is working in the New Haven Superior Court as a clerk. Brett said, “I swear in juries, open court, and take notes during hearings and trials. It’s intense.” However, this isn’t a permanent job for Brett as he plans to go to law school in the future. While Brett has had a successful career ever since he left Morgan, he thinks he “hasn’t changed that much, which is good. If anything, I’ve grown into myself a bit more, but I’m fundamentally the same person I was at Morgan.” Though he does admit that he is “more worldly and more intellectually curious” since leaving.

At Morgan, Brett was involved in theater, choir, cross-country and track, and student council. This carried over into college with him, since he was doing acapella and theater at GW too. He said that if he could go back to high school he would, “Lighten up. Sometimes I was too serious, and probably too hard on myself.” He recalls one specific memory back in 2015, his freshman year. Brett shared, “When I ran for class president, I was so nervous. I got up in front of the whole class, and having done theater you would think I wouldn’t be scared, but my paper was literally shaking in my hands and everyone noticed. I could’ve quit at that moment, just literally dropped out of the race, but I didn’t, and I won. I think that was a very influential moment in my life. I faced a fear and overcame it. I’ll never forget it.”

Brett said he is proud of all he has done since Morgan. He looks forward to his future. He is proud of how he has grown as an individual, learning to have a more optimistic view of the world and of himself. He continuously thanks his teachers and peers from Morgan who helped him become who he is today. His current goal is to get his book sold in local stores, specifically Madison’s RJ Julia’s Booksellers. And while more traveling and school will be ahead, he will “never forget where he came from.”