Brunswick valedictorian builds Dragon PALS to bridge student divides

At Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Marco Venegas noticed a simple but stubborn divide: students who spoke English as a second language and students who were native speakers were moving through the building in separate circles. He answered with Dragon PALS, a peer-led effort meant to do more than tutor homework and instead make a 715-student school feel more connected and more welcoming.

Dragon PALS stands for Partners in Academic Language Support. Established in early 2024, the program recruited 16 student tutors, now supports more than 40 ESOL students and meets every other school day. By the time the group had logged more than 1,200 collective service hours, it had become more than a help session. Teachers say it has helped build trust, friendships and a stronger sense of belonging inside Brunswick High, where the ESOL program serves students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

That focus fits a broader shift in how schools are being asked to think about multilingual students. The Maine Department of Education describes multilingual learner support as equity-focused and strength-based, and says students once referred to as English learners are now identified as multilingual learners. Dragon PALS puts that idea into practice at the peer level, giving students a regular place to ask for help, meet across language lines and normalize interactions that might otherwise never happen.

Venegas’s leadership has not stopped with tutoring. He started an Old English club, where students gather weekly for games and activities tied to the language, including a Beowulf recitation tournament. He is also active in senior-class leadership and will speak at graduation on June 12, a sign that classmates and staff see him as one of the school’s most visible student leaders.

His inclusion work has also been recognized beyond Brunswick High. Venegas received the 2025 Young Maine Volunteer of the Year Award, along with a school community service award, for the work tied to Dragon PALS.

The real test now is durability. With Venegas graduating, the question is whether Dragon PALS has become rooted enough in Brunswick High’s culture to keep serving next year’s students without its founder. Its structure suggests it may be: a regular schedule, trained peer tutors and a clear role inside the school day. If it lasts, the program could stand as a model for other local schools trying to answer a common problem in a more practical way, by building belonging before isolation hardens into something harder to fix.