Sanford High School Class of 2017 president Annie Ledue leads her fellow classmates in the march across the field at Cobb Stadium at Wednesday’s graduation. TAMMY WELLS/Journal Tribune

Sanford High School Class of 2017 president Annie Ledue leads her fellow classmates in the march across the field at Cobb Stadium at Wednesday’s graduation. TAMMY WELLS/Journal Tribune

SANFORD — Jackson Nickerson plans to attend the University of Maine at Farmington in the fall, with a view to becoming a history teacher. And then, he said Wednesday evening, he hopes to come back and teach at Sanford High School.

But first came high school graduation. 

What was he thinking on a sunny Wednesday evening chatting with friends and family just before commencement was to begin?

Well, he said, the graduation event  was well put together.

“it makes us look good and the school and the community look good,” he said.

His mother Jennifer Nickerson said Jackson is the eldest of her children, the first to leave the nest.

“Its bittersweet,” she said. ‘I am very proud of him.”

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There was lots of pride to be seen on the field at Cobb Stadium, where the graduates in their bright red and white caps and gowns posed for photos with their  family and their friends. There were hugs and pledges to keep in touch, wherever life would lead them.

“I’m going to miss my friends,” said Raquel Hamilton, who plans to move to Virginia and take a year off to work before deciding her next step in life.

Ian Poyant of Acton said he’ll be off to Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts in the fall, where he plans to study communications with a view to sports broadcasting.

How was he feeling about graduation?

“Amazing,” he said.

In all, 221 seniors received their high school diplomas from Superintendent David Theoharides, School Committee Chairman John Roux and Principal Marianne Sylvain.

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Sanford High School chorus sang “A Song of Farewell,” while the Sanford High School Band played “Shenendoah.”

 SHS Science and Technology teacher George Pouravelis  was faculty speaker. 

 Pouravelis, who  left medical school 35 years ago to try teaching “for a couple of years,” told the graduates that life doesn’t follow a straight line, and the distractions encountered along the way can become the essence of their lives.

“There is a lot of good in the world,” he reminded the graduates, “We tend to forget that because life can be pretty cruel. Seek the good int he world, and in yourselves. Go where your heart is guiding you.”

Sydney Littlefield gave the valedictory address.

“Life is cumulative. Every day contributes to who we are and where we’re going,” she told her fellow classmates.

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“As we close this door on high school tonight, another door opens,” Salutatorian  Tian Morrison said in her address to her fellow graduates. “Doors are transitions from one stage of life to another.”

Morrison finished her remarks  by quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Be an opener of doors,” she said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.


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