Deering High School celebrated its 141st commencement Wednesday at the Cross Insurance Center, sending off a graduating class of 205 students.
The flurry of purple-and-white caps, thrown into the air to mark the students’ unofficial transition to adulthood, drew deafening applause from all parts of the auditorium, as family and friends celebrated the achievements of the new graduates.
Deering’s ceremony on Wednesday was among the first public high school commencements of the season. Portland’s two other four-year high schools – Portland High School and Casco Bay High School – will hold commencements Thursday. Many southern Maine high schools are scheduled to hand out diplomas at commencement ceremonies this weekend.
Deering Principal Ira Waltz started proceedings Wednesday, greeting audience members and faculty. The DHS Concert Band played a rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance” by Edward Elgar as the students processed in, dressed in their gowns, girls in white and boys in purple.
A group of eight seniors sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Co-class presidents Mohamed Nur and Stephen Ochan provided an official welcome and introduced Superintendent Emmanuel Caulk. Caulk delivered a well-received speech about milestones, quoting a Langston Hughes poem – “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly” – and exhorting the students to cling to their aspirations.
Senior Muna Adan read aloud a poem of her own that explored the struggles that teenagers face, and the achievement of pulling through.
There followed musical interludes composed by Jack Bullock and Stephen Schwartz, a witty and lighthearted salutatory from Christopher Richardson, and a deeply personal valedictory from Olivia Blom.
“Our lives are all interconnected,” Blom said at one point during her speech. “I believe that relationships are at the core of the human experience.”
At last, there was the presentation of diplomas. Each and every student went up individually and received a diploma from Waltz and Caulk, and walked offstage while audience members clapped for them.
Commencement ended with the co-class presidents congratulating the graduating class one final time, and everyone throwing their caps into the air to rapturous applause.
Sam Norman can be reached at 791-6366 or at:
snorman@pressherald.com
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