WELLS — “Excited and nervous” were the two words Clarisse Goncalves, a senior at Wells High School, used to sum up her feelings about graduation.

Those feelings ring true for most high school seniors, as does the sentiment expressed by Sam Sayward, who is also a senior at Wells. Sayward said the thing he will miss most about high school is the ease of his classes.

“I think college is probably going to be a lot more difficult,” Sayward said.

Both students will be graduating with the Class of 2016 at 1 p.m. Sunday on Warrior Memorial Field.

Goncalves has been preparing for college by learning how to be more independent and responsible, which includes doing her taxes and being organized. For her, high school was all about forming a base, “learning new things, being more independent. Growing up.”

It was about “just getting experience in living,” said Gonclaves. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

Sayward is preparing for his next step by working full-time over the summer.

“I’m working a lot, just so I have money and I don’t have to stress about it as much when I’m down in college,” said Sayward. “Less worries.”

Goncalves also plans to work during the summer before going to college. In the fall, she will be attending Massasoit in Brockton, Massachusetts, while Sayward will be going to Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.

Goncalves is planning to take an Emergency Medical Technician class at Massasoit after taking a Certified Nursing Assistant class at the Sanford Regional Technology Center earlier this year and passing the CNA certification test.

Her favorite part of the CNA class was “going to clinicals and seeing nursing homes, what they do and what they go through,” she said. “… I’m interested in the medical field, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Sayward isn’t quite sure what field he wants to enter.

“I put down sociology as my major right now, but I’m not sure if I’m going to stick with that,” he said. “I haven’t really decided what I really want to do yet. It was kind of something I was interested in more last year.”

He does, however, have an idea of what he’s looking for in a job: a position where he can work from home and control his own hours.

“I know that right away after college I might have to get a 9-to-5 job or something at least for a little bit, until I am able to do what I want to do,” said Sayward. “I want to be able to have enough free time to keep surfing and skating, doing what I want and having that flexibility to do that.”

Sayward works at Wheels N Waves and also teaches surf lessons. He started surfing at age 8, although he took a break until junior year of high school. He travels frequently with his family, and has visited Costa Rica, Florida, South Carolina and Canada, among others. Kennebunk Beach is his favorite place to surf.

In college, he’s mostly looking forward to the warm winters of Florida and surfing.

“I don’t want to be stuck in a city somewhere without a car and have to walk everywhere in the middle of winter, so it’ll be nice to not have to worry about that,” he said.

Goncalves came to the United States from Cape Verde when she was 3 years old. She lived with family members in Florida until she came to Wells her sophomore year of high school.

“It was a little scary because I had to meet new people, but it was great,” said Goncalves. “I had good teachers.”

Goncalves lives with her older niece, Joana, who works as a nurse at York Hospital. Joana helped inspire Goncalves to take the CNA class.

Her parents are still in Cape Verde, but she speaks to them over the phone, and her father may come to Maine to see her graduate.

When she moves to Brockton, Goncalves will be living with her older brother. She has four brothers. Her role models are people close to her: her case manager, Cindy Roche; her niece, Joana; and Julia Pitt, her English as a Second Language teacher.

“Mrs. Roche, because she pushes me every day to do better, every day I come into this school,” said Goncalves. “And Joana my niece, she’s a really big part of my life. And Julia Pitt. She definitely helps a lot.”

Sayward’s role models are less clear-cut.

“There’s not one individual person that I could pick out that’s like a role model,” he said. “It’s anyone who puts in the hard work to be able to do what they want to do and not just accepting some lower standard.”