LIMESTONE, Maine — Hundreds gathered for the Maine School of Science and Mathematics graduation on May 27, filling nearly every seat in the Limestone Community School auditorium.
Before marching, the MSSM Class of 2017 anxiously gathered in the community school library. Some graduates, clad in cap and gown, sat on playground swingsets during the wait, holding on to their final hours as high schoolers before returning to homes across the state and country to pursue college and careers.
The large audience showed its appreciation with thunderous applause and standing ovations as seniors marched to receive their diplomas, and speeches were given by graduating senior Rachel Pike and University of Maine System Chancellor James H. Page.
Pike began by thanking attendants for their support, and made a point to eschew the tropes of graduation speeches.
“There is so much more than the cap and gown or the tassel moving from one side to the other — our lives are changing,” Pike said. “We’ve faced hardships and fear, and have been forced to watch as our lives progress before us.”
Pike’s speech focused on the theme of sacrifice, and how future decisions will carry more weight than before.
“The road to success is not a paint by numbers endeavor,” Pike said. “It is not a choose your own adventure novel you can control. The road to success is an ever-present struggle to wade through the murky waters of our uncertain futures. The road to success is riddled with sacrifice.”
To further illustrate her point, Pike presented the multiverse theory as a metaphor for the struggles of adult life.
“If you think about there being multiple universes out there, where the opposite result of every decision you’ve made plays out in a different realm,” Pike said, “out there, somewhere in the multiverse, a version of ourselves may be living an entirely different life. But we have to be proud of our decisions, we have to understand that every sacrifice we’ve ever made will be for a future we believe to be beneficial.”
In his keynote address, the chancellor stressed the importance of the scientific method and the logical structure of mathematics as tools that will assist graduates in nearly all future endeavors.
“Logical implication is not a matter of opinion, a valid argument is one where it’s not possible for the premise to be true if the conclusion is false,” Page said. “The tools you use to analyze are the tools you will use for the same analysis in whatever field you choose to enter. In your studies in math, you have that foundation.”
The UMaine chancellor urged graduates to use these tools and to not take anything said to them at face value, even if the person saying it has great authority.
“In premodern times, people used to say that a certain thing in physics or biology was true because Aristotle said it, or in studying the cosmos, people thought things were true because Ptolemy reported it,” Page said. “They were both great scientists, but they were not progenitors of truth. Something isn’t true because an authority said so, it’s true because it represents the way it is. In exploring what that is, an appeal to authority is not the way to move forward.”
Page said graduates should continue to use open-minded skepticism in their adult lives.
“Take these points, the logical structure of mathematics and principles of the scientific method,” Page said. “Use those and you will not go wrong in your career, in the activities of your community and with your family.”
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- Members of MSSM’s class of 2017 spent their final moments as high school students in the Limestone Community School before marching into the auditorium and receiving their diplomas on May 27. (Christopher Bouchard)
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- Nearly every seat in the Limestone Community School auditorium was filled for the May 27 Maine School of Science and Mathematics graduation. (Christopher Bouchard)
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- Maine School of Science and Mathematics Class of 2017 graduate Rachel Pike delivered a student address during the May 27 graduation ceremony, in which she stressed the importance of sacrifice, as well as the weight and consequence that will accompany decisions made by graduates. (Christopher Bouchard)
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- University of Maine System Chancellor James H. Page delivered the keynote address for the Maine School of Science and Mathematics 2017 graduation ceremony on May 27. In his speech, he urged graduates to use logic and the scientific method in their adult life, and to not take statements at face value just because they were spoken by an authoritative figure. (Christopher Bouchard)
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- Members of MSSM’s class of 2017 spent their final moments as high school students in the Limestone Community School before marching into the auditorium and receiving their diplomas on May 27. (Christopher Bouchard)
