Presque Isle High School grads told to ‘do your best’

    PRESQUE ISLE — Though they received their high school diplomas Friday night, Robert Dorsey cautioned the 115 Presque Isle High School graduates that they will never truly be done school.
“You’ve completed high school, but school — actually learning — is not over and won’t ever be,” said Dorsey, president and CEO of Aroostook Partnership for Progress in his keynote address. “In life, every day is a school day.
“The real keys in the school of life are a combination of continuous learning and making good decisions. So life’s like school, but there are a lot of tests — in many forms — and they generally aren’t scheduled,” he said. “Tests will come every day … new school, new job, new boss, new software program, new technology, new laws, a new baby. How you do on these tests will define your success or failure, and what you learn from those experiences will ultimately make you the person that society sees.”
Dorsey told the graduates that the secret to success — in almost every case — is to “do your best.”
“What does that mean, ‘Do your best?’ Let me put it in perspective,” he said. “Employers today are hiring people with good attitudes, who want to learn, who can think and give their best every day. Doing your best means doing the right thing or, put in a simpler way, making good choices … like studying for a test first instead of blowing it off to party, like not doing drugs even though your friends do or not drinking and driving.
“Like showing up early to work instead of late, staying after work if that’s what it takes to get the job done,” said Dorsey. “There are also consequences for every choice. They range from rewards and more opportunities to disappointment or failure.”
Dorsey offered a few tools that will enable the graduates to do their best.
“Think. Think before you act, but act,” he said. “Do something. Make a difference. Do your best.
“Focus. Prioritize … it’s very easy to get distracted. Set goals and go after them. Remember, life is a competition — just like in sports — competing to get a job, promoted, be the manager,” said Dorsey. “The bottom line is we need you. Everyone in Aroostook County needs you. Maine needs you and our nation needs you. We need you to succeed. We need you as our future leaders, tradesmen, businessmen, farmers and foresters. Whatever you decide to do, please do your best, make good choices, do the right thing, help others and if we can help you, please ask us. We are counting on you!”
In addition to Dorsey’s remarks, graduates also heard from class speaker Kayla Girardin, who reminded her classmates that everything they’ve been through in the last four years has “taught us something about life or about ourselves.”
“In the halls and classrooms of PIHS, we have been molded from timid freshmen into confident seniors, ready to take on the world outside the walls of this school,” she said. “For some of us, the future is scary and unknown, and we’re about to leap blindfolded into the rest of our lives. For others of us, we know exactly where we’re going to go and what we want to do.
“For all of us, we are closing a chapter in our lives in order to start a new one,” said Girardin. “And I can confidently say that all of us are prepared for that chapter to begin.”
Girardin shared with her peers a quote on a poster in a classroom, “The good news is: These are not the best years of your life.”
“We have achieved so much up to this point, but we’ve also had some failure and heartbreak. There is so much more that life has to offer us if we can go out and find it,” she said. “I hope that whatever we do, and wherever we go, we can all find exactly what life is offering to us and accept nothing less.”
Musical selections at this year’s commencement included “Vienna” performed by Kristina Lord and accompanied by Gabriel Player, both 2013 PIHS graduates, and “I’ll Be There,” sung by the PIHS Chorus.
Diplomas were conferred by SAD 1 Superintendent Gehrig Johnson and Lucy Richard, chair of the SAD 1 board of directors.