HOULTON, Maine — Seventy-one Houlton High School students said farewell to their teachers, classmates and school Thursday evening in an emotional graduation ceremony.
More than 1,500 people filled the John A. Millar Civic Center, to send off the Class of 2014 in style.
Senior Class President Morgan Ross welcomed those in attendance and thanked family members of the student body for their encouragement and constructive criticism over the years.
“We come together one last time to honor our differences and celebrate our similarities,” Ross said. “Our growth has brought us to this stage, and we will continue to develop as we leave the school to fill our new, adult roles. We will, remember, though, to balance fun with responsibility and to connect with the people we encounter wherever we go.”
Salutatorian Kole Buzzeo touched on the many obstacles the graduates have faced, and will continue to face in the years to come. He used his personal experience of suffering a torn ACL in the first quarter of the first game of his senior basketball season as a learning experience.
“This injury had a devastating impact on me and my hopes for a stellar final season on the court,” he said. “I am positive that every single one of my classmates sitting here before you has faced an emotional burden of some sort. Experiencing a sports injury, being rejected to a college, failing a test, or even forgetting about a homework assignment all test one’s patience and endurance. Obstacles like these present themselves frequently throughout life, and we must be prepared to face them confidently in order to proceed past them. Meeting and overcoming these hindrances takes resilience, determination and humility.”
Buzzeo added he did not let his injury affect his hopes and dreams. Instead he used resilience, determination and humility to overcome the injury and plans to use those lessons to help him in his future challenges.
“Although at times I believed that this obstacle was the end of the world, I realized that it could be so much worse, and that people can not take anything in life for granted,” he said. “These obstacles are going to be scattered throughout our lives and my injury is just a minor example. These minor setbacks, however, prepare us to face much more serious obstacles.”
Valedictorian Robert Woods focused on the subject of change in his address.
“Change is an essential part of life, and graduation is just one change in a series of changes we will experience throughout our entire lives,” Woods said. “While change is often beneficial, some drastic changes in our life push us to our breaking points, and it is during these moments that we must act with resiliency by never giving up on ourselves. Lastly, we all have the power to positively change our lives and the lives around us.”
Woods added that change could be beneficial or detrimental.
“While we cannot control certain events that happen to us in our lives, we can manipulate how we let change affect us by how we react to it,” he said. “The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wisely said, ‘Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that response only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let events flow naturally forward in whatever way they will.’ There is no sense in fighting what you have no control over. Besides, sometimes change surprises us; what we thought would be a negative change actually turns out to be a positive one.”
Woods encouraged his peers to make changes in their lives if they were unhappy with something and noted that many college students switch majors at least once during their postsecondary studies.
Sarah Abbotoni introduced guest speaker Kevin Mania, the junior high music instructor at the high school, who gave a thoughtful, humble and genuine speech to the graduating class.
“For most of you, you have been in this school system for 12 to 13 years,” Mania said. “Your parents dropped you off on your first day of school; they told you that you were going to be OK; you were going to be fine; and you were going to meet new friends. Little did you know that your parents telling you everything was going to be fine was for their benefit, because when they got back out to their car or turned and walked away from the bus as it picked you up, they started crying because they were nervous for you. They were hoping that they were telling you the truth, they were letting you go for the first time … well let’s face it, for some of you I am sure they cheered, but whether it was tears of joy or sadness to see you go out on your first venture, they did shed a tear on your behalf, just like they may be doing tonight.”
He offered the following life lessons for students regardless of what their future paths were.
“When you talk with someone, look them in the eye, engage in the conversation, let people know that you care about what they think, what they say, what they do,” he said. “It will show respect, and respect is one of the biggest compliments you can give someone. When you give someone a handshake use a firm grip, not too firm mind you, but a good grip to let people know you are strong in your convictions, that you are there for them, and you appreciate them. When you hug someone, let them know you appreciate their soul. When you love someone let them know you love them with your whole soul. Take time to tell people who you care about how important they are to you. You never know when your last interaction with them will be. Take advantage of every moment and communicate.”
