Most Katahdin grads are college bound

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
IT’S OVER — Brady Curtis lets loose as the ceremony wraps up for the 2010 Katahdin High School graduates.
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    STACYVILLE — From the West Coast to the East Coast and points along the Eastern Seaboard, friends and family traveled to northern Maine for Katahdin High School’s (KHS) 2010 graduating class last Saturday morning.
    While guests were filing in to nearly pack the 900-seat gym, students were sharing thoughts about the future and the good times they would carry into the next phase of their lives. Melissa Duffy said she will miss a lot of her friends “and hopefully not lose touch with them.”
    Hillary Riedel and Jessi Cox said they had been friends since the second grade. Riedel astutely observed: “It’s the end of everything I know, and the beginning of everything I don’t.” Riedel, who said she hopes to open a catering business, was accepted into the honors program at Johnson and Wales University. Cox is also career oriented and plans to open her own shop after attending Empire Beauty School in Bangor.  
    Levi Robinson is headed to Central Maine Community College in a general studies program and said he was leaning toward a radiology program. But, fellow students would also recall that the honor student was the fun loving author of many jokes.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photos/Elna Seabrooks
FOREVER FRIENDS — Hillary Riedel and Jessi Cox express their lifelong friendship with a hug.
    “Oh, I don’t know. I can’t even remember all of them. It’s an everyday thing. I just make people laugh around the school,” said Robinson. As far as high school high jinks go, Travis Lindsey remembered one of those moments: “He measured my nose once in English class as an experiment.”
    Meanwhile, Principal Rae Bates was passing out Life Savers “so they won’t chew gum. They always have fun don’t they? They are a wonderful group of young people. They are helpful to others and they work well together. They are a really delightful group of young people.”
    Bates added that the “vast majority are going on for their first semester of college.” And, Jorden Osnoe will go into Eastern Maine Community College with nine credits in her freshman year thanks to high scores on a national test along with credits she earned while still at KHS, said Bates.
    Another student Bates cited was Ryan Lane: “He is the student of the year for the vocational region and will study wildlife management at the University of Maine-Ft. Kent.”
    Family traveled from Massachusetts and Bangor to hear Danielle Chong deliver the class message as she stressed the importance of perseverance and never giving up. After the ceremony, Chong, who will study elementary education at Husson College, was joined by her mother, Deanne Mathews, who said she was proud of her daughter’s presentation.
    But, the award for most logged total family miles traveling to graduation probably goes to Valedictorian Shelbe Lane. They came from as far away as California and the state of Washington. But, Brenda Brown, only traveled about an hour to Stacyville from Houlton. She said: “My niece Shelbe is graduating as valedictorian of her class and I’m so proud of all her accomplishments. She has always excelled at everything she has tried to do.”
    Shelbe’s brother Cole added that he, too, was proud. Later a family barbecue and party spilled out onto the front lawn of the Lane family home with balloons, banners and souvenir candies and cookies embellished with the valedictorian’s photo.
From left, Ashley Paradis, Hope Heath and Shelbe Lane await the awarding of diplomas.
    Shelley Lane, her mother, said: “It’s amazing to see my little girl graduating and going to college. It’s wonderful.” Her father Keith added that “she has been quite special.”
    Ashley Paradis, recovering from an accident when a power line injured her and her younger sister earlier this month, walked with her fellow students to the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance.” “There were many good times here. I’m definitely going to miss it. It’s kind of exciting. It’s the end for us. I’ll be going off to Husson in the fall to study elementary education,” she said.
    Paul Paradis, her father said: “it’s just overwhelming — a very, very proud moment.” Her mother, Nicole Botting, added that “it’s the beginning of her life now.”
    And so it is for the Class of 2010.