April Noel’s nerves were a bit frayed just prior to Windham’s High School graduation.
“There are 4,000 people out there,” she said, as she peeked around the corner into Cumberland County Civic Center where parents and friends of graduates rapidly were filling the stands.
Noel’s feelings were shared by many as Windham High School graduated 190 students Sunday afternoon in what Principal Deb McAfee described as a traditional ceremony.
With pomp and circumstance, two beaming graduates, one clad in maroon, one in white, pumped their batons as the school band accompanied their passage into adulthood. The graduates, divided by sex, marched in from behind both sides of the elevated stage in the Portland Civic Center.
Despite solemn music, whistles and shouts escaped from the crowd, rousing several graduates from their revery as they waved excited and sometimes a bit abashedly to the crowd of spectators.
Through their anticipation they sat through some speeches that bored, some that inspired, and songs that evoked sadness and tears before they finally received their diplomas and then met to receive congratulations from proud, puffy-eyed parents and guests.
Principal Deb McAfee kicked off the ceremony quoting the popular Broadway musical “Wicked.” She told the class, “because I knew you, I feel like I’ve been changed for the better.”
In an interview before the ceremony McAfee said the group has certainly suffered collective disappointments that have built their collective character. After Sept. 11 the traditional and much anticipated eighth grade trip to Washington D.C. was cancelled because of security reasons.
Most recently, their senior year homecoming parade was cancelled because of rain. They couldn’t recover it. They spent weeks constructing a float they were unable to showcase.
Some of the student speeches highlighted these losses.
Speaker Jeremy Egan agreed with McAfee. “We’d be the class that missed out on the most things,” he said.
Though the disappointments were remembered, success and silliness was also celebrated.
Essayist Samuel Clarke, began his speech by asking the graduates and everyone in the audience to pop their cheek with their index finger. Though most people obliged, it seemed few truly succeeded as a series of barely audible pops passed over the crowd, before the would-be cheek poppers giggled collectively at the their own silliness. “I’ve waited eight years to do that,” said Clarke.
Clarke’s speech contained a revised version of Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” titled, “Oh the Places You’ve Been” soared with Clarke’s animated telling.
Clarke was one of three essay finalists chosen to speak at graduation. Other speakers included the salutatorian, valedictorian and class president, who closed the ceremony.
Valedictorian Molly Masterton encouraged her classmates to be more present in the moment.
Salutatorian Zachary Janosik advised his class to take the best of what they’ve learned with them. “If you have to look back, make sure you smile,” he said.
Featured guest speaker and teacher John Folan, had a few lessons left to teach before releasing his students to the world:
Fact 1 – You don’t know everything.
Fact 2 – You will make a lot of mistakes.
Fact 3 – You will make the world a better place to live.
Essay winner, Douglass Butler picked up on Nolan’s strain, comparing life to bowling. “Even if you do roll a gutter ball,” he said, “you get another chance.” Quoting comedian and actor Bill Murray, Butler encouraged his classmates, to “be the ball.”
April Noel’s father Rene Noel knows that while his daughter is off “being the ball,” his house will feel a little lonely.
A single dad with a son already graduated, Noel will be living alone while his daughter trots off to University of Maine at Farmington to study elementary education.
As graduation clears out his nest and renders his home a bachelor pad, Noel anticipates an adjustment, though it probably won’t be as hard to adjust to “no girls in my bathroom putting on make-up in the morning,” he said laughingly.
Graduate Richard Bicknell will attend community college in the fall and learn machine tool technology. For Bicknell, “13 years of hard work ends today,” he said while he waited in the wings before the ceremony.
Opening speaker, graduate Joanna Clark completed the graduation equation for Bicknell by emphasizing the future.
“Thank you for celebrating all the work we’ve done and all the work we have yet to do,” she said, welcoming the crowd.
Robert and Eleanor Young sat in the crowd prior to graduation swelling with pride over their grandson Brian Pierce’s achievements. Pierce has been accepted at University of Maine at Orono to study animal science and agricultural business.
Pierce, who his proud grandfather referred to as “pretty near perfect” will miss his grandson’s company in his blacksmith shop, where Pierce and his grandfather would work side by side spraying wrought iron basket handles.
“We’re very proud of him and he knows it,” said Young.
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