Lincoln Academy Head of School Jeffrey Burroughs with 2026 Maine Principal Association Award Winner Helen Duffy.
Helen Duffy is this year’s Lincoln Academy Recipient of the Maine Principals Association Award. A current senior, Duffy is an honors student who is involved in multiple clubs and an athlete and manager on the swim, cross country, and track teams.
The Maine Principal’s Award is presented in more than 100 Maine public and private high schools by member principals of the MPA, the professional association that represents Maine’s school administrators. Lincoln Academy awards an MPA Award each spring to a graduating senior who has demonstrated leadership in academics, athletics or other MPA-sponsored activities, and strong character during their years at LA.
In presenting the award, Head of School Jeff Burroughs said that Helen’s graduation “will have a ripple effect like a student version of Mr. Page’s retirement: we will feel her absence in places we can not yet anticipate.”
Burroughs went on, “Academically, this student has challenged herself with a dizzying array of AP courses. Her LEAP senior capstone project set a high standard for classes that will follow, and it will surely be used for years to come as an example of what’s possible.
“She has participated in three sports every year as either an athlete or, in the words of one of her coaches, ‘the best manager any coach could dream up in a lab.’
“A leader in Student Council and Climate Action Club, she never seeks the spotlight but always provides direction that people trust and want to follow. This student single-handedly does all the layout for every edition of the Talon. Over the last four years there haven’t been many days where I haven’t seen or heard her in the office next door and I’m sure I won’t be the only one to miss her presence and grace.”
MPA award winners and their principals from around Maine are invited to a luncheon on April 5. During that event, ten $1,000 scholarships will be drawn from among the award winners from high schools around the state.
After graduation, Helen plans to go to Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she hopes to study data science and public policy.
