EASTON, Maine — During his valedictory address June 6 at Easton High School’s graduation ceremony, Joshuah Salkind implored his 12 classmates to be resilient when things aren’t going their way.
He quoted the late former U.S. President, Richard Nixon, who said, ‘A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.’
“We are here on this stage tonight because although we may have experienced defeat at one point or another, we did not quit,” Salkind said. “We allowed our finest qualities to show themselves, and used those qualities to our advantage in any situation we encountered.”
He used another quotation as motivation, that by political theorist and philosopher Edmund Burke, who said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’
“I therefore encourage you, Class of 2014, to do something instead of nothing,” Salkind said. “I believe that the time we have spent at Easton High School has prepared each of us to do something great with our lives.”
In his salutatory address, Hunter Turner told the crowd he was grateful for the family atmosphere which was present at the school throughout the years.
“We have created strong bonds with one another through sports, music, drama and school clubs,” Turner said. “As I walk up and down our one hallway, I see students from various grade levels talking to and supporting one another.”
He recounted his time as a seventh-grader when his older brother, Holden, was a freshman and Hunter would sit down on the “senior” bench to talk to his 12th-grade “buddies.”
“My brother was mortified and my parents said, ‘only Hunter.’ I never knew the difference,” he said. “I think the ‘senior bench’ soon dissolved and to this day I feel there are no barriers between grade levels and no feelings of awkardness that might exist at larger schools.
“We all care about how our friends, standing or sitting next to us, are doing,” he added.
Haley Ambrose, the first honor essayist, had to do some mathematics in relaying the amount of time she and her classmates have spent together over the years, and said she believed everyone benefited because of it.
“From cursive to chemistry, we have spent about 2,340 days in this school,” Ambrose said. “That’s over 19,000 hours, not counting after-school activities, sleepovers and birthday parties. Each of us on stage are who we are because of each other, and because of all of you.”
Cassandra Buck, the class’s second honor essayist, recounted facing trials as an elementary school student outside of Easton, including being told at a young age that she was slow and “would never excel as an above-average student.”
“I had to have extra help outside of the classroom and was made fun of because of it. I never let the bullying or the voices of teachers stop me,” said Buck, who began attending Easton High School as a freshman. “I kept my eyes on my goal and now I have a 92 average and I’d say that’s pretty good for someone who was told she would not excel in school.
“My point is everyone has obstacles and they can choose to hide behind them or they can choose to overcome them,” she added.
Another portion of the 1-1/2 hour ceremony included musical selections performed by the school’s chorus and jazz choir, under the direction of Pamela Kinsey. The songs were the Eagles’ classic, “Seven Bridges Road,” and Season 11 American Idol winner Phillip Phillips’ smash hit “Home,” which featured a solo by Buck.
Scholarships totaling $213,878 were presented by various individuals and groups and awards were given to the four honor parts by Principal Cameron Adams. A slide presentation, set to music and displaying current photographs of Easton graduates, photos from their younger years, as well as their future plans, was also shown.
The evening ended with the presentation of diplomas by Adams, Superintendent Roger Shaw and board of education chairman Gaylen Flewelling.
The Easton Class of 2013 includes: Ambrose, Buck, Mariah Cyr, Stephanie Hammond, David Jewell, Ian McLean, Derek Mendoza, Colby Pangburn, Salkind, Ian Sotomayor, Katelyn Tompkins, Turner and Cameron Young.
Buck and Cyr were class marshals and Bryan Wright, a longtime science teacher at EHS, was the class adviser.
