FREEPORT – Adam Brobst is the type who makes friends easily. Anyone listening to Brobst’s senior address at Saturday’s Freeport High School commencement exercises could attest to his easy-going style.

Brobst provided a little levity to one of life’s great rites of passage, held at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. He began his speech with a reference to his freshman year, when going to high school with both Durham and Pownal students was a relatively new thing at Freeport High. Regional School Unit 5 had formed only the previous year.

“We made our friendships and bonds within the classroom,” Brobst said. “I had to make friends quickly, or else my homework would not get done.”

Brobst, who will attend Bates College this fall, concluded by stating the obvious. He and his classmates, he said, were “waiting for that moment when you can say to yourself, ‘I’ve done it.’”

Including three foreign exchange students, 131 seniors – the largest Freeport graduating class in recent memory – received their diplomas Saturday. Retiring Principal Robert Strong, retiring Superintendent Shannon Welsh, class adviser David Watts, Assistant Principal Ann Marie Barter and school board Chairman Nelson Larkins passed out the parchment.

Class marshals Dalton Chapman and Rachel Sayward led the processional of the students – the boys clad in garnet, and girls in white. A large banner with the words, “Congratulations graduates!!!” flanked on either side by the Falcons school logo, hung high above the stage.

Watts greeted the big crowd.

“Welcome to the commencement exercises for the students of Freeport, Durham and Pownal,” Watts said.

Watts then asked seniors who would be serving in the military to rise, which they did to a standing ovation. Senior members of the high school choir then sang the National Anthem.

Following Brobst’s speech, class treasurer Nicholas Nelsonwood introduced keynote speaker Thomas Edwards. Principal at the school from 1996-2006, Edwards had done some collaborating with class president Sydney Ambrose, who in turn provided him with some useful information.

Edwards asked Ambrose to assemble personal experiences from her classmates, which he used as a framework for his speech. Edwards recalled that when he started as principal, they started a School Spirit Day. The Freeport High School students of today have outdone that, he said.

“You don’t have a Spirit Day, you have a Spirit Week,” Edwards said. “You have taken the spirit of the school to a higher place.”

He said the class of 2014 had the “most positive affirmation of school spirit” he had seen.

The student notes provided by Ambrose also told him that Freeport High teachers are known for being friendly.

“This is the most positive student-teacher relationship I have seen,” he said.

Edwards went on to advise the seniors to enjoy the day thoroughly, and make “good, safe decisions.”

He then played cheerleader, asking everyone – the audience first – to yell, “Go ’14, go ’14, yeah!” After the audience had its turn, he rushed in front of the standing seniors, who repeated the chant to a rousing applause.

Ambrose made a farewell address, followed by the traditional turning of the tassels and the march out of Merrill.

Freeport High School Technology Coordinator Laura Girr poses for a cellphone photo with graduating students, from left, CatherineEllis Price, Natalie Jortner, Katie McClelland and Katelyn O’Neil, before Saturday’s ceremony at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. David Watts, senior class adviser and instrumental music teacher, goes over some final details with the class of 2014, then urging them to “just be quiet” for a few moments, to prepare for the excitement soon to come. Class of 2014 president Sydney Ambrose delivered the Farewell Address before directing her classmates to “turn the tassels.” Jessica Kenlan, Freeport High School choral music teacher, reaches out to greet Fiona Harbert as she and other members of Freeport High School’s class of 2014 make their way to the stage at Merrill Auditorium. Patti Bailey receives a rose and a hug from her graduating niece, Jamie Schaedler, during the graduation Flower Ceremony. Adam Brobst delivered an entertaining Senior Address to his classmates, who rewarded him with a standing ovation when he finished. Emily Jennings and classmates pass the final milestone in the commencement ceremony, turning their tassels to the other side of their caps to signify their new status as high school graduates. Freeport High School graduating senior Molly Brown sings “Welcome the Rain” during the Flower Ceremony, where every senior comes down from the stage to present a rose to special family or friends.