What happened to the good old days of holding graduation on your hometown school grounds? I personally don’t live in Brunswick, but was raised in the neighboring town of Topsham. I watched the progress of Brunswick getting a much needed new high school, that I must add is beautiful with the circular driveway, ample parking, gorgeous recreation fields and beautiful land, surrounding the school.

Why isn’t graduation held at their facility? It could be many possibilities: Traffic, the dangers of one roadway in, the gym may not hold as many people, maybe the kids are given too many tickets to hold that many people. Mt. Ararat has had similar size graduating classes. If it rains, they hold it in the old gym, where the tickets are limited and parents and students are shoulder to shoulder but, it’s their space. If it’s outside, it’s on their field, the one where the football flew across, watched the battle of the lacrosse ball, the students in track ran, and where the soccer ball scored the winning goal. It’s held where the whole school holds events of their spirit week. Their graduation is held where the memories were made at a much cheaper price tag, in fact half of what Brunswick High is paying out to have it at Bowdoin College.

It would be interesting to see what the students at Brunswick High want. Has the board reached out to the students to see if they would rather have graduation at their school? The school where the kids have studied day in, and day out for years, and had sweated it out on the fields with winning goals or cheered on their home team

Bowdoin is a beautiful campus, and I am thankful to have them in our backyards. But, when costs rise to the point of a teacher’s salary, it’s time to check in and see what is really important to the students of Brunswick High and their parents. Like the old timer’s say “spending less is more.”

There is something to be said in being able to have that final goodbye to the high school years. I do recall the feeling after graduation day at good old MTA, driving away for the last time down that winding driveway. It felt good to know I had done my last drive out with my diploma in hand, and it didn’t cost my school an extravagant amount.

Jennifer Leech
Bowdoinham