South Portland High School graduates 194 students, 90 percent of whom will attend a post-secondary school.

SOUTH PORTLAND – Savannah King began her speech at the South Portland High School graduation by relating a game of Red Rover she played with her classmates seven years earlier while at Hamlin Elementary School.

King, an honor essayist in the class of 2010, told the crowd how she ran full speed that day toward a link formed by two classmates.

“I am just praying that I don’t get clotheslined this time. I am running head first, hoping that I end up OK,” said King, before comparing that day to the ones soon ahead for the graduating class. The seniors, she said, would be leaving the comfort of high school and the company of people they have known for years.

“Now, it is time to take your first breath before you run into the arms of the life in front of you. Make it count,” concluded King.

That first post-graduation breath sounded a lot like a hoot and a holler from the 194 graduating seniors, many of whom threw their mortarboards high into the air to mark the end of the ceremony, held in the packed high school gymnasium as refuge from the pouring rain outside Sunday afternoon. It was the end of a record-setting four years for the class of 2012, which will send 90 percent of its graduates to post-secondary education, an all-time high for the school, according to Principal Jeanne Crocker. Fifty students will be going to Southern Maine Community College in South Portland alone, she said.

The graduates at Sunday’s ceremony received plenty of advice on how to deal with what the world gives them as they run into the arms of life. And all of that advice came from fellow classmates, with the two honor essayists, King and Kaiya Hansen, joining valedictorian Gregory Reinhold and salutatorian Maxwell Berube as the speakers at the event.

Following King, Hansen spoke about the varying definitions of success, as well as the pitfalls of worrying about the actions and accomplishments of your peers instead of concentrating on your own effort.

“You can’t control what other people do in life. You can only control what you do,” Hansen said. “Getting bogged down by the fact that someone is better than you at something won’t help you improve. All you can do is focus on what you need to do to improve yourself and do it.”

Berube, taking the podium after Hansen, told his fellow graduates that although they will hear no shortage of advice in the coming years, their true education will come from experience.

“Only you can decide what is worth listening to and what you need to figure out on your own,” he said.

While the other speakers chose to look ahead in their speeches, Reinhold instead took a look at what he thought made the class of 2010 special.

Rounding out the speakers, he brought with him to the podium to play for the crowd a recording of the New England Patriots, who prior to their first championship victory at Super Bowl XXXVI were introduced not as individuals but as a team.

“They demonstrated how much more powerful a united group is than one that is made up of ‘me-first’ individuals,” Reinhold said.

As he reeled off the accomplishments of the class of 2010 – myriad victories won on the playing field and accolades gained on the stage and in the classroom – Reinhold said it was all made possible because the class acted as a team.

“Every single person graduating today is wearing their cap and gown because of the help of at least one of their fellow classmates,” he said. “At the same time, we have helped at least one of our fellow classmates in return.”

Will Carter, president of the class of 2010, welcomes students, parents, faculty and staff to the South Portland High School graduation, held Sunday in the school’s gymnasium. During the ceremony, 194 students received their diplomas. (Staff photo by Ben Bragdon)Kaiya Hansen, honor essayist for the South Portland High School class of 2010, talked about the varying measures of success at Sunday’s graduation. “You can’t control what other people do in life. You can only control what you do,” she told her classmates. (Staff photo by Ben Bragdon)Students throw their mortarboards high into the air following the presentation of diplomas at Sunday’s graduation. (Staff photo by Ben Bragdon)