Houlton High School grads look to future

After the pomp and circumstance, a time of welcome and the salutatorian address, it was a time to rock with the senior chorus on their medley of songs.
    With sunglasses and dancing, the seniors belted out how they wanted to be a “Billionaire” and then Joey Gould took center stage and stole the show with his rap to “The Graduation Song.”
Before the graduates relaxed with their singing, Senior Class President Tanner Caron welcomed the audience to Houlton High School’s commencement exercises.
After the Houlton High School A Capella Choir sang the national anthem, Salutatorian Tyler Delano stood at the podium to deliver his address, starting with the poem “The Bridge Builder” by Will Allen Dromgoole.
The poem spoke of an old man building a bridge to safety that even though he may not pass that way again, there would be another youth after him who would cross and he was building the bridge for those who came after him.
“Every teacher, parent and friend we’ve ever had in our lives is the old man,” said Delano. “These are the people in our lives who have left behind bridges for us.”
Delano added, “We have already in our lives built countless bridges for those around us … In everything you have done, someone has been left with a memory … Just as the old man built a bridge for youth who would follow him on his journey, we must continue to build bridges for those who come after us … Make a difference in the lives of everyone we meet. Each one of us has the power to make a great impact on those around us, so never waste an opportunity.”
Then, Caron introduced the guest speaker LaDericka Sewell, an eighth-grade English teacher at Houlton Senior Junior High School.
In a comical fashion, Sewell took out a paper bag and blew several times into it (acting as if to calm down when hyperventilating) before giving her speech. But a confession of sorts followed when she admitted, “My first reaction was ‘Please no.’ And yet, here I am. I said ‘no’ to a wonderful group of kids and always have regretted that. I did not want to make that same mistake again.”
Sewell shared humorous snippets on what she learned in school from “never set a failing homework paper on fire while the teacher is just coming into the room” to “writing a sentence 100 times did not make me learn to not do whatever it was I did.”
But, she disclosed she learned more when she got out of school.
“There are no do-overs,” she said. “Deadlines are deadlines ,.. whining and griping won’t earn advances in the workplace — ever — and it didn’t matter in what year somebody did something, said something or fought somewhere … what mattered was how they faced the challenges, made the decisions and assumed their responsibility.”
The themes of challenge, decisions and responsibility were planted in the listeners’ minds from a gardener’s perspective.
“Break soil! Be brave, face your challenges and begin! Choose seeds carefully. You have options, explore them. Try them,” Sewell impressed. “Don’t forget TLC — tender love and care. Weed out what does not belong, which leads to deeper roots and finally, give it time. In due time, you will harvest the ‘fruits’ of your labor.”
Sewell then had the graduates interact with her, as she read off positions in life where the graduates had touched her such as “you have pumped my gas” to “you have let us cheer for you on the ice, on the fields and courts” and “you are planning to keep my home safe from foreign attack.”
By the time she was done reading how the graduates would touch her life, everyone was standing. Then she addressed the audience to seek out those who had touched their lives and give those graduates a “rip-roaring, stadium shaking, rock star status applause, whooping and shout outs that they could muster.”
Applause, whistles and shout outs echoed as the graduates stood gazing out at the audience.
“Grads — turn and look at me,” Sewell instructed. “Remember the praise and adulation you just witnessed from your loved ones. Take that time — and anything you can remember from this commencement speech — and you carry that into your future.”
In conclusion, Sewell told the graduates that each one had their own importance.
“You matter here and now — and will matter wherever you go,” she said. “From building blocks to building dreams, from scoring goals to reaching and achieving them, you matter. Buck up! Stand firm! Be resolute! Never forget us — never forget these days and never forget the mark you have made in this small community — your home.”
Valedictorian Marina DiMarco spoke on the journeys each graduate will experience quoting her favorite writer John Steinbeck, “a journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all the plans, safeguards, policing and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not make the trip; a trip takes us.”
DiMarco said the high school journey had brought each one of her classmates to a different point in the road.
“Like any trip, ours have had surges and setbacks,” she said. “We have survived our fair share of obstacles on our journey together … Our individual trips have taken us over smooth highways and back roads … No two of us took exactly the same road to this destination, and no two of us will take the same road away from it.”
As she finished, DiMarco said, “The most exciting idea to consider this evening is where our trips will take us next.”
Quoting Bono from the band U2, DiMarco told her classmates, “Whether we never leave home or we never come back, we’re ready to start an adventure and bending the world into a better shape is never a bad goal. Classmates, we have journeyed together a long, long way. We have grown, struggled and celebrated. Wherever you go tomorrow, please remember this: the journey is ours to make. The world is ours to bend. The trip can take us anywhere. And hopefully, we’ve learned to know when we need to pull over and ask for directions.”
After the class ode was read by Second Honor Essayist Gaige Flewelling, Superintendent Ray Freve, Principal Marty Bouchard and Assistant Principal Dawn Matthews presented diplomas to the Class of 2011.