RICHMOND

The Richmond High School Class of 2014 — a small class of 28 students — graduated Saturday during a ceremony at the school gym.

Megan Kenyon told classmates, friends and family of her dreams, to travel the world, work with people from different cultures, become bilingual and move across the country. While she has never been out of the United States or fully mastered another language, “with goals, perseverance and a tenacious work effort, I know that I will be able to accomplish almost anything I put my mind to.

“And that’s the message I want to send to my fellow classmates,” and underclassmen, Kenyon said, “that no matter how unrealistic your dreams may be, follow them anyway. It will always be worth the effort.”

Collin Acord said he realized he’d never find the words to adequately describe the individual journey of all 28 graduates to get to the ceremony Saturday and receive their diplomas. The one word he did talk about, though, was “time.”

The time for graduation came too fast for some and not fast enough for others, Acord said. Regardless, “time shows no mercy and goes on whether we are ready for it nor not.”

As his classmates wake and reflect the next morning, he encouraged them to reflect on their years leading up to graduation and how they spent their time in high school. Lost time is never found again, Acord said. Before they know it they will be at their 10-year reunion.

“I can only hope that when it comes time to reflect on yet another milestone, each of us will not have wasted any precious moments,” he said. “Instead, I hope we each are truly content with our lives because we realize that it does not matter what we do with our time, as long as we think of it as time well spent.”

Salutatorian Megan Barto said the first three years of high school went by fast, years filled with work “but also a lot of fun memories to get to this point.”

Arriving at graduation, the struggles were all worth while, Barto said.

“We are off to bigger and better things,” she said. “We are off to start the rest of our lives.”

She thanked Richmond for the opportunities it has provided her, meeting her classmates at the start of school, field trips and fifth grade graduation that made everyone cry.

“Thank you for helping me get through the ‘awkward stage’ in middle school. Thank you for that eighth grade trip that brought our class together. Thank you for helping me through all the drama and trials of high school,” Barto said. “Thank you for the amazing friends, teachers and administration here at Richmond High School. Thank you for the Class of 2014. Thank you for such and amazing senior year.”

Valedictorian Haley Murphy said she came to Richmond in fourth grade, having moved from the larger town of Brunswick, which was a big change. At Richmond High School, she became a leader through responsibilities given to her.

“The class before you has matured into intelligent young adults, but we won’t be remembered that way,” Murphy said. “I’m asking everyone in this room to forget the expectations you had for us and to forget who you thought we were. I’m pleading for you to look up at this stage and see our class for who we are and what we’ve become instead of the people we were.”

Only by breaking free of these expectations can they keep growing and become the people they want to be, Murphy said, and challenged her classmates, “to keep growing and keep changing and allowing yourself to do so.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com