The women in gowns of white, the men in maroon, 202 members of the class of 2008 made history on Sunday as the largest class to ever graduate from Gorham High School.

Some graduates will be staying put in their hometown, while others are jumping at a new opportunity for flight, holding their diplomas like boarding passes. But Monique King, in her salutatory address, reminded her classmates that wherever they go, “we can’t forget the small town that has shaped who we are.”

In between the words of all the speakers at Sunday’s afternoon ceremony at Merrill Auditorium – from Valedictorian Natalie Miliano to faculty speaker Kevin Jenkins (the popular math teacher and hugely successful basketball coach retiring this year) – came a chorus of memories praising connections made between people and between ideas during the students’ years at Gorham High School.

“Take the quadratic formula for example,” Jenkins said, asking the audience if there was anyone who used it in their daily life. While most would never see the formula again, the problem was just one the students tackled and overcame, proving they’d tackle and overcome another. After all, Jenkins said, quoting Frank O’Malley, an early twentieth century newspaper reporter, “Life is just one darn thing after another.”

Jenkins reminded the class that even if they have daunting challenges ahead of them, many people are envious of the freedom of choice they have as new graduates ready to move forward in their lives.

Miliano will be moving forward – instead of going back – to Dartmouth this fall. She said she’d also have new problems to conquer: She will be in college, and she will be alone. But, like solving the quadratic formula, Miliano’s memory of being a “mathlete” in high school will get her through it. It was the math team that made her realize there will always be a connection between people, even if those people are rival Cape Elizabeth field hockey players met at the line of scrimmage as enemies who suddenly recognize you behind your headgear and say, “Hey, you’re on math team!”

For Class President James Moody, memories can be used in a subtle way, to remind people that “one of the great American traditions” that is the graduation ceremony would take only a couple of hours – they’ve been through it before. Or to remember an unusual incident where some classmates itching for late night exercise just happened to have shovels on hand when they discovered the grass at the high school was covered with snow.

Being the good citizens they were, they proceeded with shoveling the snow off the grass. It was dark, claimed Moody, and the do-gooders couldn’t be blamed if the snow ended up in front of the entrances to the school.

“That is just one example of members of our class taking initiative, and instead of hoping for a snow day, making a snow day,” said Moody to laughter, cheers and applause.

“I thought he did it rather well,” said John Drisko, Gorham High School’s principal, on Monday about Moody’s version of the story.

Jenkins and the graduates aren’t the only ones leaving the Gorham school system this year. John Drisko, after 15 years as an educator in Gorham, 10 of them as principal, will be moving on to North Yarmouth Academy this fall.

“That was bittersweet, no question about it,” Drisko said about his last Gorham High School graduation.