Hodgdon High graduates 44

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HODGDON — It was a night for drama and tears, a night for joy and laughter. It was, last Friday, the night for Hodgdon’s seniors to graduate. Parents, family, teachers and friends nearly filled the gym to its 900-seat  capacity to see 44 students march in their royal blue and white caps and gowns.
SELF PORTRAIT — Photo on right. Just before the final line-up for commencement exercises at Hodgdon High School, Sarah Toner, Tom Brewer and Nikki Hughes pose for a self-portrait.
   The hustle and bustle of getting ready for the big moment took place in the library, alternately brimming with relief and nostalgia. Salutatorian Taylor Hovey wrote a note of thanks to her parents before joining cousin and fellow graduate Alayna Acott and aunt Tammy Acott  for photos. Students streamed in and out of the library to put on caps and gowns, touch up makeup and share thoughts. As the anticipation mounted, Lacey Codrey said she was “happy to get it over.”
    Dustin Potter and Morgan Hall, out in the hallway, took it all in through their sparkly oversized “eyeglasses” in the shape of 2009. As hugs and congratulations were exchanged, the enthusiasm of the bespectacled young men seemed to be matched by most others, even without the big glasses, underlying nervousness notwithstanding.
FAMILY — Tammy Acott, center congratulates her nieces Taylor Hovey, left and Alayna Acott on the right.
    And, finally, the time had arrived. In a nearly poetic moment, Valedictorian and Class Marshall Molly McGuire, stood at the front of the gym waving a baton, to pace the students processing down the aisle as her own parents watched just steps away in the front row.
    When all the students were on the stage, there was one empty chair except for a photo. Young Robert Armstrong, who died tragically last year in a car accident, also graduated with his classmates, posthumously. On that warm June evening in the gym where he had played basketball, a moment of silence was held in Armstrong’s memory. A tree had been planted at the school in his honor the preceding Sunday.
    Student speakers thanked the teachers, parents, family and friends for support and encouragement. But one of the most dramatic moments was the unspoken salutatorian address. Hovey held up what are  commonly called cue cards in the television industry. “Through hardship and homework, good times and laughter, we have stood together and we’ll always remember, we are the Class of 2009,” were written in big letters on the cards as the room reverberated with the film score from Stanley Kubrick’s Oscar winning and critically acclaimed “2001: A Space Odyssey.” A final card “Applause” drew a thunderous and approving response.
    And, Second Honor Essayist Dayna Tidd must have felt the support of the room during her emotional reflections on the times shared by the graduates.
DIPLOMA IN HAND — Chelsea White has her diploma marking years of hard work. This 2009 Hodgdon graduate is looking forward to the next phase of her life.
    Valedictorian Molly McGuire, with a view to the future, said after growing up together, this was their moment to make the best of their lives.
    Superintendent Robert McDaniel encouraged the graduates to take pride in their community and be good citizens of the world, leaving it a better place than it had been.
    As students names were called, McDaniel handed out diplomas and Principal Clark Rafford turned  their tassels. But, it was the exhilarated Potter, still wearing his big 2009 glasses who shouted “I did it,” to the approving audience.
    Rafford told the Pioneer Times that nearly $300,000 in scholarships were awarded to students during Class Night earlier in the week with about 70 percent going on to post-secondary education. He added that more gifts and prizes would be handed out during all-night festivities for Project Graduation in Houlton at the Elks Club when the students would share their last time together as a class.
ON THEIR WAY — From left Morgan Hall, Shawn Chapla, Eric Barton and Phillip Brown are ready for their 2009 graduation from Hodgdon High School.