Portland High School Deering High School Casco Bay High School

IDEXX pals: Caleb Niles and Maddy Mazjanis

In 2013, Maddy Mazjanis headed north to the University of Maine at Orono. In 2017, Caleb Niles headed south to attend Northeastern University in Boston. Four years apart, it’s not surprising that they didn’t know one another. They had been working together on IDEXX’s Instrument Development team for several months when they realized that they were both Deering graduates.

Caleb agreed, “One of my best friend’s mom once said that ‘you can learn more in walking the halls in Deering in five minutes than you would ever have the opportunity to learn elsewhere because of the diversity of the student body.’ I think that’s the huge asset that Deering High School has.”

But that moment felt like a homecoming. They both loved their time at Deering, reveling in the diversity of students and the devotion of their teachers. “I had such a good time in high school,” said Maddy. “I had a lot of friends and a lot of fun. I’d get to school early to hang out in the hallways and talk to friends. It seems funny now,” she laughed. “A high school kid specifically getting up early just to go talk to people but I was really social.”

“My Deering friends are still my best friends,” said Caleb. “And it’s great to see my classmates out and about in the community.”

Maddy’s degree is in bio engineering, but an IDEXX job posting for a systems engineer spoke so directly to her skills and knowledge that she applied and was hired. She was midway through a master’s in biomedical engineering when she was brought on board in May 2019, finishing her thesis by the end of the year.

Lacrosse, soccer, and basketball took up much of her free time in high school. These days she lives with her wife and dog in Westbrook and loves trying new things: skiing, knitting, painting, video games, and golf. “I like to do it all. If someone says come try this, I’m like yeah, sounds fun,” she said.

Caleb joined IDEXX in early 2020. He had done an undergraduate co-op at IDEXX and really liked the idea of returning to Maine where he could continue racing sailboats, something he started at Deering at the age of 16. He was on the Northeastern sailing team and returned each summer to coach for SailMaine on Casco Bay.

He still coaches the Deering team and races two or three nights a week after work. “I like getting competitively involved in things. I enjoy being at the level when the fun is the competitiveness with someone at the same level as you,” he said.

Both of them enthusiastically remembered biology teacher Ian McLean. “I studied marine biology with him. We went to the beach and then dissected a crab. It was so much fun. He was the teacher I remember who did hands-on stuff,” Maddy said. “He was one of my favorite teachers, and he sails, so I still see him at Hamilton Marine,” said Caleb.

“I sometimes forget how gorgeous and great the place where I grew up is. Now I live and work here,” Maddy smiled. “Deering was such great preparation for me. We learned a lot about life, how to treat people, how to be a good person, and how to problem solve when things don’t go your way.”

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