BRUNSWICK

Through smiles and tears, family, friends and supporters cheered on the Brunswick High School Class of 2016 during graduation Friday at Watson Arena at Bowdoin College.

During the ceremony, Brunswick School Superintendent Paul Perzanoski praised the Class of 2016, stating that their kindness was only outdone by their hard work.

“Growing up in an uncivil political climate, capped by the poor behavior of our current national candidates, only makes their responses to life so much more important, and the need for their future contributions a long awaited civil wake up call,” he said.

Perzanoski recalled his working-class family whose father — a public school teacher — worked part-time at a market in order to make ends meet while also obtaining his master’s degree.

Perzanoski recalled how downtrodden his father appeared when he was denied a raise from the market’s management, despite having worked there for 17 years. But the next day, the elder Perzanoski found that his car had been filled by the market’s manager with milk, bread, eggs, peanut butter, tuna and more.

This happened repeatedly until management was able to give him the raise.

This taught Paul Perzanoski a lesson in how disagreement can be civil and incorporate compassion, he said.

Brunswick School Board Chairman William Thompson recalled his own BHS graduation 17 years ago.

Looking to the present, Thompson told graduates that “each of you is an investment,” costing $16,000 in taxpayer funds alone this year.

“We invest that money and make you work hard, because, as you leave here and enter a wider world, the countless hours your teachers have invested … will reflect well on the town of Brunswick,” Thompson said.

In turn, Thompson said, he hoped that the graduates would, in time, settle back in Brunswick, and return that investment.

Left unsaid in Thompson’s speech was the investment Brunswick taxpayers will be asked to make Tuesday, when they go to the polls to decide on the next school budget.

Instead, Thompson asked graduates to show that they were worthy of the “investment this ceremony celebrates.”

Valedictorian Shane Lyons spoke of the nature of time, and urged his fellow graduates to focus on the important things in life.

“Focus on the present,” Lyons said, while also asking graduates to reflect on their accomplishments.

Salutatorian Anna Deck, who appears to have thrived at BHS despite living with an immune deficiency disorder, spoke of fear, and how it can be a force that “pushes us to succeed and to realize our potential.”

“Destiny is not a matter of chance it is a matter of choice,” said BHS Principal Shanna Crofton, quoting William Jennings Bryan, as she opened the ceremony.

Crofton told graduates to reflect upon the obstacles overcome and friendships made over their BHS careers.

Graduates and some audience members wore blue ribbons on their gowns in memory of Alex Labbe, who would have graduated this year with his peers. He died in 2010 at the age of 13 due to complications of a heart condition while he was a seventh grader at Brunswick Junior High School, according to his obituary.

The ceremony was dedicated to his memory and spirit, as well as to his parents, Peter and Judy, said Crofton.