17-year-old graduates from UNE Youngest student ever to earn degree at school

Among the hundreds who received college degrees over the weekend, Andrew Shuttleworth was probably the youngest.

The 17-year-old received his bachelor’s degree during Saturday’s graduation ceremony for the University of New England, where he was the youngest graduate ever from that school.

“I’m not very old, so I have this sensation of having woken up in this world, sort of feeling like, ‘What are we doing here? What’s this all about?’ I’m looking at what humanity is all about,” he said.

Shuttleworth went to Biddeford’s UNE from Portland High School when he was 14. He is set to go into the pre-med program at Yale University next fall, after which he hopes to go on to medical school.

Elsewhere, Yoko Ono offered encouragement Sunday to students at the Maine College of Art in Portland.

Graduates are facing a tough job market. Career counselors at colleges and universities agree that the job market has not looked this bleak since the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

One way some students are avoiding the bad job outlook is by going to graduate school. Graduate school applications are up 10 percent at the University of Maine, said Scott Delcourte, associate dean of the graduate school.

Others are pursuing opportunities such as the Peace Corps. Josh Anchors, the New England representative for the Peace Corps, said applications have been up by 40 percent to 50 percent in Maine.

But one career counselor said the job outlook may not be as bad as it seems. Part of the problem is that the 1990s boom raised expectations, which may make the current economy look worse than it actually is.

“It’s not the same as [before] where people were getting bonuses just for having a pulse,” said Mary Ann Benson, assistant director in career services and professional life development at the University of Southern Maine.