HOULTON, Maine — Two students graduated on Sunday during the Greater Houlton Christian Academy’s 31st commencement ceremony at the Military Street Baptist Church in Houlton.
Samuel Duff, salutatorian, and Ryan Mitchell, valedictorian, will both enter postgraduate studies. Duff will attend Northern Maine Community College and Mitchell will go to Cedarville University in Ohio.
“Success is no accident, it’s plain and simple hard work, perseverance, learning, and sacrificing, and we can’t do it on our own strength,” said commencement speaker Mike Grant, who served as a missionary for 20 years and in Bolivia for 10. Grant is now Dean of Men at
New Brunswick Bible Institute.
Grant encouraged the graduates to persevere and not give up even when things seem too difficult or distant. Never quit at night, never quit when you’re tired or discouraged, never quit, if at all possible in the midst of a challenge. Persevere and never quit when you feel like you are alone, he said.
“Someone shared this at a graduation years ago: You’re standing in on the edge of a 100-acre field.There’s nothing in it. What will you do? Are you willing to go into this
unchartered field or are you going to stand on the edge?” Grant said. “Sam, Ryan, where you are now — go, go hard, give it all you got. Seek the Lord.”
Both Duff and Mitchell thanked parents, friends and teachers, acknowledging that they could not have made it without their help and guidance.
Mitchell said he has always looked up to his father and the best advice he ever received was to never do things half-heartedly, but do them to the best of your ability.
Duff said during his commencement speech the hopes, fears, dreams and occasional heartache at GHCA could best be described by a Charles Dickens quote, and shared this from “A Tale of Two Cities”: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
The commencement ceremony also included several scripture readings, music and a slideshow of the graduates’ four years at the school.
