Speaker says ‘reach for stars’
DYER BROOK, Maine — A small group of 14 students bid a fond farewell to classmates and their school Friday, June 10, 2016, as Southern Aroostook Community School held its annual commencement ceremony.
The class of 14 students marks one of the smallest at SACS in a number of years.
Terrance “TJ” Brown served as guest speaker for the ceremony. Brown taught English to the class during their sophomore year and went through each member of the graduating class with some words of wisdom.
During her speech, Valedictorian Kaitlin Small spoke of both the fear and excitement that comes with graduating.
“Since the first day of school, there has been a dread, I believe, in all of our minds,” Small said. “It has been more than the fact that many of us will be separated, that we will be hundreds of miles away from our best friends or no longer have the opportunity to get closer to those classmates who you missed out on. It is more than the fact that we must say goodbye to our favorite teachers, their teaching methods, and the genuine relationships we formed with so many from elementary to high school. There’s a deeper reason for this dread. It’s the fear of the unknown and the lack of structure to our lives after high school.”
She then took her classmates and the audience on an emotional trip back through time, recalling tales from kindergarten up through to her senior year and during their senior year, all that changed as the class was constantly reminded that their year was filled with “lasts,” like the last first day of school; last Christmas break; and last school prom.
“We had to make these lasts count and we had to appreciate every moment that we experienced together,” Small said. “It was time to get to know that classmate that you never gave a chance, because it was goodbye after this year. It was time to work hard because you didn’t have another year to get your act together and retake the classes you failed.”
Small encouraged her peers not to spend too much time stuck in the past, because the future has much to show.
“We must take those memories and our last hoorahs and cherish them, but also learn how to properly move on from here,” she said. “We mustn’t be scared of the future, of the unknown. Accept these changes, learn more about yourself, find new passions, new friends, and a new home. Leave your regrets and what ifs behind, because today marks a new you. I know each of us will contribute to making this world a better place, making the most of our lives, and fulfilling our dreams. I believe we all can agree with Bilbo Baggins and say ‘I think I’m quite ready for another adventure.’”
First Honor Essayist Joshua Perrin took a trip down memory lane with his peers. “In our first years at school, you thought that recess or playtime, would’ve been our favorites, but it was nap time,” Perrin said. “Every day there would always be a group of kids trying to ‘sleep’ in the corner by all of the toys, when in reality we just wanted to play with them.”
Middle school was filled with change as students started having more than one classroom and got their own lockers. High school brought a new set of challenges, as the students adjusted to life in the big wing of SACS.
Dakota Dickinson, second honor essayist, spoke of the past, present and future in his address.
“Looking back to when some of you were young and innocent like we are now, you had bag phones, antenna phones; then, it was the flip phone; I’m sure some of you still have them, like my parents for example,” Dickinson said. “There were record players, then there were 8-track tapes, cassette tapes. There were typewriters, desktop computers with a million wires to connect from the wall to the tower to the screen to the Internet to this and that, all over. And now, on this small [smartphone], I can do all of that stuff and much, much more.”
The present, though filled with sadness for some, is also filled with excitement and wonder for what the future holds, he said.
“Thinking of all of the advances in technology alone over the past few years is astonishing; but what about the future?” he said. “In the future, there will be cars that can drive themselves. There will be a way for doctors to regrow organs, suitable to support human life by just using a few cells and a little thing called science. We will, in the next four years, discover the treatment and cures of thousands of diseases. Who knows what other cool things will pop out along the way?”
Salutatorian Mariah Lane asked her peers what was the best memory they could think of? “Right now, think of it,” she said. “Think of how it made you feel, remember that moment and what it taught you.”
Lane said her memory was when she was small and her grandfather worked for the phone company and drove a bucket truck. She said she was always fascinated with the stars, and one day her grandparents decided to hang a string of stars in a tree and sent her up in the bucket truck to pick them.
“I didn’t realize then and it took me a long time, actually, to realize what I learned from that night,” she said. “When I was in seventh grade, my Pop passed away and it wasn’t long after that that I realized what I learned from that night. I learned that I could always reach for the stars, but you can’t do it alone. You have to have support and love and friends and family to help you along the way. In the end, it is you that reached the stars and it is you that completed your dream, but you had to have help to get there.”
In January, Lane was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and shortly after she realized that she couldn’t reach her goals without the help and support of my friends, family, and community.
“Not only have you all helped me get on the track to where I want to go with the rest of my life, we have helped each other,” she said. “Not a single one of us on this stage could say that we have gotten here on our own. It may seem like a very powerful and wonder thing to say, that you got here by yourself, but really it isn’t. It’s saying that you’ve been alone without support for these 13 years and you haven’t been. All along we’ve all been side by side, through the good and the bad. Being the small class that we are, we’ve been able to be fairly close to each other lives and be positive influences. We’ve become a support system for each other and we’re all going to have a different time next fall.”
