Graduation for Windham High School’s class of 2009 featured the usual lineup of speakers – the class president, the valedictorian, the class essayists – and Batman.

The processional was filled with funny stories and thoughtful advice, but it was the Caped Crusader who made the June 7 ceremony markedly different than your typical graduation.

Announcing himself with a soliloquy through the sound system of Portland’s Cumberland County Civic Center, the mysterious superhero teased the crowd with quick appearances at each of the arena’s entrances before showing up at the back of the stage, behind the rows of graduates dressed in maroon and white.

As the designated superhero for the class of 2009, Batman said he would be watching over the class’ 217 students as they headed off into the world, whether it be to college, a job or the military.

But he would also be there to keep them on track should they fail to follow his rules for a fair and just life. Know yourself, the masked man said, and surround yourself with good people. Remember though, he continued, those pieces of advice will be for naught if you do not learn to pick yourself up when disaster strikes.

“But if you endure, these life lessons will be magnified,” he said.

After Batman left the stage in a plume of smoke, the rest of the speakers took one by one to the podium to honor their classmates, relive the last 12 years together, and look forward to what awaits them in the future.

Even without the aid of a voiceover and cool cape, Valedictorian Patrick Martin entertained the audience with impersonations of the different voices in his head, from a forgetful old woman concerned that her garden is rife with “chlamydia,” to Rosa Ward, who through a thick smoker’s voice said she would only entertain men now by jumping out of a sugar-free cake.

“You know, diabetes these days,” said Martin-as-Ward.

After the laughter died down, the class’ top student urged his fellow graduates to embrace all the different parts that make them who they are.

“I want everyone to look inside themselves and see which voices live within them,” said Martin.

Devon Audie, the third honor essayist, had a similar message. Relating a story about a girl who when asked whether she was a giant, dwarf or wizard said unprompted that she was a mermaid, Audie told the students to be “whatever suits you.”

“Know what you want, and just go for it,” said Audie.

Salutatorian Tyler Littlefield, in his remarks, recalled some juvenile hijinks involving an airsoft gun and a soda can that happened with friends Tom Patrick and Evan Kerschbaum. Looking back, he’ll remember the class winning Homecoming as juniors, their senior pranks, and the Screaming Eagle.

“Today is for the family and friends that have been there throughout our lives,” Littlefield said.

Class President Lindsay Plante said the graduates should retain the part of themselves that allowed them to, when younger, believe they could be anything, from a millionaire to a basketball player to a polar bear. Life has become a lot more complicated since then, and doubt tends to creep in with age, she said. But it doesn’t have to.

“Remember the little kids who believed, before anything else, in themselves,” said Plante.

A surprise speaker, Batman, speaks to Windham High School graduates at their commencement ceremony.Tyler LittlefieldSingers