PORTLAND – Music, balloons, wise words and humor helped Bonny Eagle’s 271 graduates celebrate the successful end of their high school careers last Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

After a massive thunderstorm poured rain and hail on downtown Portland during the hour preceding the ceremony, the skies brightened just in time to allow several thousand parents, grandparents and family members of the graduates to assemble inside the civic center to observe the occasion.

The graduation exercises were made more special with the participation of the class of 1962, the first to graduate when the Bonny Eagle district was formed. To the familiar tune of “Pomp and Circumstance” played by the high school band, the half-dozen members of Bonny Eagle’s first class strode in behind the class of 2012 and took their seats to the rear of the new graduates. During the presentation of the diplomas, one of the 1962 class members, Bruce Haley of Limington, presented his graduating daughter, Andrea Haley, a 2012 diploma.

Once the graduates had taken their seats, class of 2012 president Anthony Ciampi, a standout football player for Bonny Eagle, was the first of the evening’s speakers, admonishing his classmates to push through whatever holds them back to achieve their dreams.

“Don’t be afraid of falling down. Don’t be afraid to push forward to achieve that next level of greatness. Don’t be afraid to make your dreams and goals a reality,” Ciampi said.

He also told his fellow graduates to appreciate the moment.

“Take a look around. Remember these experiences. Remember the friends made [because] forever is going to happen in the next few moments. When those diplomas are handed out, history will be made. So simply enjoy it for all it’s worth,” he said.

Ciampi, to the standing ovation from classmates and the audience, also dedicated the graduation ceremony to Jesse Jordan, who was seated in his wheelchair with his dog Minnie, sporting a mini-graduation cap of her own, by his side. Jordan, Ciampi said, was the embodiment of perseverance, as he didn’t muscular dystrophy get in his way of obtaining a diploma.

Jordan “has demonstrated outstanding strength and courage against all odds. I feel it in my heart and my soul, and I know you guys feel it as well, that we wish him the very best in all his future endeavors,” Ciampi said.

Bonny Eagle High School Principal Beth Schultz then expressed “sincere gratitude” for members of the class that were planning to enter the military upon graduation: Nathaniel Davis, Marines; Christopher Jose, Marines; Morgan McLaughlin, Army Reserve; Matthew Ramsdell, Army Reserve; Russell Swendsen, Army Reserve; and Jade Thibodeau, Air Force.

Schultz then went on to give her speech, in which she listed some of her “favorite things” about the class of 2012, a la “The Sound of Music.”

Among them were: “The way you displayed true sportsmanship in the basketball playoffs against Deering here at the civic center in February;” “the way you create art that adorns and enlivens our classrooms and building;” “the way you speak up when something needs to change;” and “the way you became positive role models for our underclassmen.”

The class valedictorian, Reba Meserve, who will attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts in the fall, told her classmates: “Congratulations, class of 2012. Today is the day we’ve been waiting for for years. …yet it is bittersweet since it marks the last time we’ll all be together,” she began.

Meserve also reflected the importance of the moment saying, “Now is the first time in our life where we are presented with the complete freedom to decide what to do next, the first time that we are not told what to do.”

But with that freedom comes the promise of opportunity as well as potential for fear, Meserve said: “I can say from personal experience that one moment I can’t wait to get out on my own and grow as a person. while the next moment I’m worried about missing home, family, friends and even high school.”

Praising the students for all that went into achieving their diplomas, Meserve said the next half-decade is just as important and that now is not the time to slack off or slip up.

“The decisions that we make in the next five to six years will impact the quality of the rest of our life. These next few years really do matter. We need to make smart choices so that we can enjoy life to the fullest. Making the hard right choices will be much better than for us in the long run than making the easy wrong choices,” she said.

The guest speaker, English teacher Skipper Geanangel, continued Meserve’s theme of gaining confidence from past experiences by reminding the graduates, “You’re not beginners. You are continuers. If I were to say you are beginners, what would that say about the last 18 years. You didn’t get here alone, but you are not beginners. You have gone through so very much and each of you has a significant story to tell and a great life to live.”

Staying with the theme of “continuing,” Geanangel went on to say, “Sometimes you will have to hack your way through jungle, but you will continue. Sometimes you will be on a nice sailboat and have following seas, and you will continue. You will continue with the good and the bad. And you will be successful because I know who you are.”

Geanangel then praised the graduates saying, “You have thrilled me with your humor, your dignity, your grace, the way that you have approached people, and particularly with the way you have treated me.”

The presentation of diplomas featured another standing ovation for Jordan, as he received his diploma on stage from Superintendent Frank Sherburne, who posed with each one of the several hundred students for photos.

As is customary for Bonny Eagle, after the diplomas were presented, a cloud of colorful balloons burst from the overhead rafters and rained down on the happy grads.

The Bonny Eagle High School Select Chorus sang the national anthem to open the ceremony.
The Bonny Eagle class of 1962, the first to graduate when the school district formed 50 years ago, followed the class of 2012 into the Cumberland County Civic Center and sat alongside the new graduates.   
There was a packed house at the Cumberland County Civic Center for last Friday night’s graduation ceremony for Bonny Eagle High School.   
Jesse Jordan and his dog, Minnie, received several standing ovations during the Bonny Eagle High School graduation ceremony. Jordan was praised by Anthony Ciampi, class president, for overcoming a lifelong battle with muscular dystrophy.   
English teacher Skipper Geanangel served as guest speaker at graduation.
Bruce Haley, who graduated 50 years ago in Bonny Eagle’s first class in 1962, had the privilege of handing a diploma to his daughter, Andrea, at the 2012 ceremony.