MEMBERS OF the Lisbon High School class of 2012 march into their commencement ceremony at the Lewiston Armory on Sunday. A total of 107 seniors graduated.
Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate with even the most traditional of events — not even the landmark celebration marking the end of childhood and the start of the rest of a young person’s life — high school graduation.
Yet even with flood warnings looming and rain still collecting in puddles everywhere outside Sunday afternoon, inside the Lewiston Armory, members of the Lisbon High School class of 2012, with their loved ones looking on, refused to be washed away by anything but a sense of accomplishment for successfully completing 13 years of school.
Despite the rain, optimism reigned.
“I feel certain saying that many people in this class will be CEOs of massive companies, nurses, doctors, lawyers, cops, computer techs and teachers and most of all, politicians,” class president Dillon Pesce said during his welcome address.
Class speaker Morgan Reeves offered classmates some advice as they start their new beginning. While all would like to become financially stable, he questioned if that would bring them success in life and if it should be a life goal.
“Think of it. Out of the top five people that have changed your life, how many of them are rich and famous?” Reeves asked.
He spoke of the elements that would lead them to mature: time, patience, intelligence, “and in the end, good choice-making skills. As the great Albus Dumbledore said from the Harry Potter series, ‘It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.’ This is so true.”
He also bade them to spend time with family — to sit down and have dinner with their family at the table where they are not distracted by television or computers. He urged them to set examples for their children, because, “We also must create a legacy by living for others and not just ourselves.”
Asking them to have a passion for what they do in this short life, Reeves said, “Live life strongly and joyfully. Live life to its fullest and you will learn the greatest lesson of all.”
Jordan Beauparlant spoke next, telling classmates of how she drafted numerous editions of her speech, intending to bring them a message such as a quote from Steve Jobs: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
She wracked her brain, and finally told them about how she saw “The Lion King” on Broadway in Boston when she was 16, which taught her a huge lesson.
“In the words of Rafiki, ‘Ah yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. It’s the circle of life, and it moves us all through despair and hope, through faith and love.’ When I think about my 13 years in the Lisbon school system, that’s what strikes me the most, the circle of life.”
At students’ request, English teacher Jacqlyn Young delivered the commencement address. She talked about how she decided against turning to Shakespeare or Homer for inspiration and instead drew inspiration from the children’s tale of “Miss Rumphius” by Barbara Cooney.
The story “is perfectly suited to your situation, poised as you are on the brink of adulthood,” Young said. “The story is simple, and sweet: When young Alice Rumphius informs her grandfather that she wants to travel to faraway places when she grows up, and then return home to live by the sea, he replies, ‘That is all very well, little Alice … but there is a third thing you must do … you must do something to make the world more beautiful.’”
Young continued, “Accordingly, Alice sets off to find her place in the world — visiting foreign lands, and scaling mountains in the process — and then returns to Maine to live out the rest of her days by the ocean,” where Alice stumbled upon her plan to beautify the world by scattering bushels of lupine seeds throughout the countryside, which “changes the palette of the landscape for future generations.”
“I couldn’t have found better wisdom to impart to you than this as you prepare to strike out on college or career paths,” Young told the class of 2012. To live a fulfilled life she asked them to follow Miss Rumphius’ lead: Travel to faraway places; then come back “to your place by the sea” (20 miles inland counts); and do something to make the world a more beautiful place.
Young concluded, “As you venture forth today, the graduating class of 2012, your prospects are limitless; explore them. Your roots are strong; nourish them. Most importantly, the world is yours; make it better. Use your individual gifts to ease the suffering of others; add your own unique thread to the tapestry of life. Do the third, the most important thing of all: do something to make the world more beautiful — even if you do not know yet what that can be.”
Prior to handing out diplomas with Lisbon High School Principal Kenneth Healey, Superintendent Richard Green offered his speaking slot to class valedictorian Sarah Giraldo, who delivered a speech that elicited a standing ovation from the audience.
School officials handed out 107 high school diplomas to graduates Sunday.
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