Watier

NORTH SMITHFIELD — Samantha Watier and her friends at BEACON Charter School spent some time together in Boston recently.

They took a duck-boat tour, dined at the Medieval Manor Theatre-Restaurant and stayed overnight at the Omni Parker House Hotel.

Watier says it was the happiest time of her entire high school experience, which included the honor of graduating as the Woonsocket charter school’s valedictorian last week.

The Boston trip was yet another affirmation that she had picked the right high school and spent most of her teenage years with the right group of people.

“It’s very comfortable,” she says, recalling the social atmosphere at BEACON.

“You’re with like-minded people — because everyone chose to go to BEACON,” she says. “You’re bound together by a want to be there.”

Unlike a lot of valedictorians, Watier wasn’t always so happy with her education.

She says she put up with elementary school in North Smithfield.

She did the work and achieved high marks, but school life wasn’t joyful.

Things took a turn for the worse in middle school.

Watier says she felt her teachers seemed most interested in covering a set of topics and giving a specific range of homework assignments “as opposed to taking the student into consideration and making sure they’re learning what they needed to learn.”

She struggled.

She says she ended up with a C in math for the first time in her life.

She knew she wanted a new start for high school; BEACON was her outlet.

It wasn’t long before algebra and geometry and pre-calculus were the art student’s favorite subjects. Most artists aren’t so fond of math.

“What can I say,” Watier says, “I like it.”

This isn’t to say that Watier doesn’t like using the other side of her brain.

Watier, the daughter of Fred and Maryclaire Watier of North Smithfield, is thinking about a career in filmmaking.

“To succeed in life you need to do exactly what you want to do whether that’s career-wise or family-wise,” Watier says. “I don’t feel like you should let outside forces hinder your road to your goal.”

To that end, Watier is pursuing a certificate in the film arts at The Center for Digital Imaging Arts in Waltham, Mass.

She dreams of winning an Oscar as a director someday.

But she says she’d happily settle for “just being a filmmaker and doing what I love to do.”

mreynold@projo.com