HODGDON, Maine — The Hodgdon Middle High School superintendent shared humorous stories from the Class of 2025 with graduates on Friday night.
Tyler Putnam, who is also the high school principal, mentioned each of the school’s 35 graduates in his commencement remarks, eliciting cheers and laughs from the graduates and a packed audience in the high school gymnasium.
“Tonight is Friday the 13th, it all makes sense now,” Putnam said as students laughed.
The Class of 2025 started their journey with Putnam in fifth grade. He had just moved from teaching high school to fifth graders, and he initially shared the fifth grade version of the graduates from the eyes of their teacher.
“I heard loud stomping, high pitched giggles and what I only could think of is small children being bounced off lockers while coming down the hallway,” he said. “They rush in and surround my desk with dramatic stories of the last 17 hours they had experienced since the last time they saw me. Apparently teaching fifth grade is like seeing your best friend from 20 years ago each day.”
They surrounded his desk like a pride of lions circling their prey, he said.
“And all at once they repeated, ‘Mr. Putman, Mr. Pullman, Mr. Parkman, Mr. I forgot your name,’ until I gave them my undivided attention,” Putnam said, detailing their 10-year-old woes with older siblings.
Their journey continued together as Putnam became assistant principal, principal and superintendent and the students grew beyond their preteen ways.
“I am blessed to be a part of your journey and hopefully will be able to watch from afar as you conquer the next big challenge,” he said. “Your impact will be felt for years to come.”
He detailed the attributes of the students and their shared stories, such as the George Gattis library incident, when in the seventh grade Gattis said to Putnam, “a high school girl wanted to kiss me and you want me to just say ‘no,’ and walk away?”
There were audience hoots, hollers and cheers.
“Thank you George for being George,” Putnam said.
Valedictorian Anna Oliver said that each face represented a story: An entire lifetime of memories, trials, victories and dreams in the making.
“We are not copies of one another, we are beautifully original, each of us handcrafted with individual gifts, personalities and purposes and yet we share a moment right now that binds us together,” Oliver said. “No matter the path that led you to this moment whether it was graceful and smooth or full of twists and turns you have the power to write your story and move about this life freely as you wish.”
Dr. Seuss says it best, Oliver said: “You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You are on your own and you know what you know, and you are the one who will decide where to go. You’re off to great places, today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.”
Correction: A previous version of the story misspelled Anna Oliver’s name.
