Commencement for the Freeport High School class of 2016 took place at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland Sunday, where students spoke about the web of connected relationships built over the years and the excitement of moving into the next stages of their lives.

Students addressing the class of 116 students were Brayden Chapman and Ethan Pierce.

Chapman began by telling the audience that he was quite nervous about speaking, so his father imparted the advice that he should picture everyone in their underwear.

“Honestly, that’s making it a lot worse,” Chapman said.

Chapman referred to he and his classmates as a “tight knit group of troublemakers” over the course of their 12 years together.

“So much time has passed, yet I remember everything so clearly — Morse Street School, the heart wrenching graduation from elementary school, practicing day after day until we nailed that march for the middle school graduation,” Chapman said to laughter.

Chapman said that while reaching each benchmark in his education provided some of his best memories, they were also filled with a sense of loss for moments that would never return — feelings he felt then at graduation.

Chapman said that while he feels the tug of nostalgia, he is also struck with a sense of terror at what awaits them now that high school is finished. “Once we walk through those doors, we’re accepting that it’s finally time to move on with our lives — it’s depressing, but at the same time isn’t that thought exciting?”

Pierce said that the accolades in the hallways aren’t the true measure of Freeport High School, but rather, in the relationships that are built there.

What makes Freeport High School special, Pierce said, is the combination of the unique characteristics of its teachers and students.

That included classmate Miranda O’Shea, who has enlisted in the Maine Air National Guard, who has a gift of humor and passion for engineering.

He also referenced teachers David Smail — who has experience in the fields of science and engineering as well as a drive for pushing his students to do their best — and Diane Whitmore, who teaches multiple foreign languages and is someone who explores and experiences other cultures.

After noting more personal connections, Pierce asked the class to stand and yell out the name of a Freeport faculty or staff member they have shared a good relationship with, resulting in a loud jumble of names.

“I’d be willing to bet that if you were to have every student write it down and submit it, that every educator out there — you would have at least one student saying your name,” Pierce said.

Pierce finished by saying students can now go forth with these layers of webs of relationships they have made between each other, faculty, family and friends.