PORTLAND – Facing challenges class leaders said they are confident the students would meet, 206 Gorham graduates received diplomas Sunday on the stage of a nearly filled Merrill Auditorium in Portland.

As graduates marched into the future, student leaders and faculty urged them to be optimistic, enthusiastic, and live with integrity as they enter the next phase in their lives.

Gorham High School Principal Christopher Record in his opening remarks praised the class.

“You look tremendous today,” Record said.

With diplomas in hands, some graduates will now launch careers, while others will enter the military or go off to college. Record offered advice: “Take advantage of your opportunities. Live with vigor.”

Valedictorian Jameson Crawford said the class would face the “hardest economic circumstances” the nation has seen since the Great Depression, but he exuded confidence in his classmates.

“We will be challenged to find innovative solutions to the rising problems of sustainability and lead a nation out of debt that exceeds $15 trillion,” Crawford said. “With perseverance and patience, we will succeed in our careers and make meaningful contributions to our industries.”

Crawford, who thanked high school faculty and staff, said the class members are messengers sent into “a time our parents and teachers will not see.” Crawford congratulated his 2012 classmates.

“Let’s carry our message into the world,” he said.

Troy Lawrence, class president, praised classmates and called this year’s graduating class the high school’s finest.

“We’ve worked long and hard to wear these caps and gowns,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence urged the class members to continue leading their lives with the integrity they have demonstrated in their school years.

“We are the class of the ages,” Lawrence said.

Salutatorian Olivia Marshburn-Ersek, who has a passion for the environment, said the class is now in a transition. She urged graduates to explore what they love and find balance in their lives.

“This is my life, I want to experience it, not merely survive it,” Marshburn-Ersek said.

Faculty speaker Roland Myers delivered an entertaining speech while donning golf attire and pulling clubs from a bag at center stage to drive home his points. Pulling out a putter, Myers said, “This is your parents. You need them on every hole.”

Myers advised the graduates to employ a good work ethic and “surround yourself with good quality people.”

After the traditional turning of the tassels and before the class walked from the stage, class adviser Stacey Mulrey told them to put their chins up and shoulders back.

“That’s how I want you to go out into the world – confident and optimistic,” Mulrey said.

Music played a role in Gorham’s graduation exercises. The Gorham High School Quartet – Lia Van de Krol, Clara Stickney, Quincy Owens and Lincoln Gray – received a standing ovation with its rendition of the Irish ballad “Danny Boy.”

The senior chorus sang their class song, “The World’s Greatest,” by R. Kelly.

In the opening ceremony, Ray Cornils played “Pomp and Circumstance” on the Merrill Auditorium Kotzschmar Memorial Organ. The Gorham Police Department color guard presented the colors and the Gorham High School Chamber Singers sang the National Anthem.

In his closing remarks, Record counseled the class to make good choices. “It has been an honor to be your principal,” Record said before graduates gathered with family in the street outside for final goodbyes.

Other class officers are Kelsey Alfiero, vice president; Samuel Phinney, secretary; and Larissa Worster, treasurer.

Troy Lawrence, president of the 2012 Gorham High School class, gets a hug Sunday from his mother Anne Lawrence, a member of the Gorham School Committee, during graduation exercises at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. (Staff photo by Robert Lowell)