SANFORD — Take a large measure of creativity and enthusiasm and mix in talent, curiosity and smarts and what do you get?

You get Paige Wales, one of 218 members of the Class of 2019 – the first class to graduate from the brand new Sanford High School and Regional Technical Center.

Wales, 18, who revels in theater, loves science, and whose email address has the word “bookworm” in it, will graduate Wednesday with her classmates, on Alumni Field on the high school campus if the weather is fine, and inside the gym if it isn’t. The ceremonies begin at 6 p.m.

Wales will be off to the University of Maine in Farmington in the fall, to study theater.

“I want to pursue acting and performing,” she said.

Wales became hooked on theater when she played the part of Pascal, the chameleon in the Sanford Junior High School production of the musical “Tangled” in eighth grade.

“It was my first time performing in public,” she said. Wales said she was nervous – but she didn’t let that stop her.

Since then, she has never looked back, appearing in school and other productions, most recently playing a doo-wop girl in the high school’s rendition of “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Wales also makes sure to keep up with her studies, she’s 22nd n her class, even though cystic fibrosis, a lung disease, has meant she has needed to spend time in the hospital this year, as she has in prior years.

“The teachers and faculty are really accommodating,” she said, giving credit for the help she has received from educators at SHS and the teacher at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.

She said she knew as a child that she wanted to pursue acting and performing and in so doing, help others. “It made me happy, watching actors on TV,” she recalled.

In addition to acting, Wales enjoys chorus and band, reading fiction like the Harry Potter books, and science. She recalled one particular experiment while at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital a few years ago. She would draw on canvas with a marker, spray it with rubbing alcohol and eagerly watch for the result. “It is as much fun to watch as it is to see the final effect ,” she said. “And watching it spread is really calming.”

It’s the creativity, art and science all rolled into one.

“I like anything creative I can experiment with in art and science,” she said.

Wales, the daughter of Katie and James Wales, seems to take cystic fibrosis in stride. She acknowledges the help she’s had along the way – including from her older brother, Todd. Rather than seeing her as an “annoying little sister,” to use her words, she said her older brother, a 2015 graduate of Sanford High School, would take time to watch videos with his younger sister and spend time with her.

“He really helped me,” she said.

The last several days have been a whirl wind of marching practice, a senior picnic, award presentations on Monday and a senior banquet tonight. On Wednesday, she’ll receive her diploma, along with her classmates – and look toward the fall.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.