One of Gorham’s most notable seniors will cross the stage at Merrill Auditorium to receive her diploma on Sunday, a day she and classmates have long awaited.

“Oh my, I didn’t think it would ever come,” Darcie Brown, a National Honor Society student, said about graduation day. “I’m very proud to graduate from Gorham.”

And the feeling is reciprocal. Gorham High School Principal Christopher Record praised Brown as among the most positive and influential students ever to go through the school.

“She’s a great young lady,” Record said. “We’re proud of her.”

Brown will be among 177 Gorham High School seniors to receive diplomas at a ceremony starting at 4 p.m.

Brown will continue her education, studying business management at American University in Washington, D.C., and her career goal is in sales.

She is the daughter of Margaret Brown. Her father, Tom, afflicted with multiple sclerosis, died at age 38 in 2006.

She has fond memories as a young girl riding on a scooter with her father on the way to Nicely’s Store from home.

In memory of her father, she launched in 2010 Team Tom, a charitable group that has raised $50,000 for research and support services for those afflicted with the illness. Fifty students at the high school joined the team she founded.

She served an internship last year at the Maine Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Falmouth. Brown has also been involved with Special Olympics and plans to continue her community work. This year at Gorham High School she received the citizenship award.

Her dedication to community service work was instrumental in her receiving a scholarship package at American University.

“I’m honored to be accepted,” Brown said.

She said her favorite Gorham instructor is Catherine Emery, who teaches math – her favorite subject. Emery this week cited Brown as compassionate, hardworking and upbeat.

“She’s delightful,” Emery said, “a very genuine person and a very good math student.”

Emery, who first met Brown as a junior in advanced pre-calculus class, wrote a glowing letter about Brown as a college recommendation.

“Any college would greatly benefit from having her at their school,” Emery wrote. “She is a student whom I will remember in years to come.”

Brown will be going off to college 450 miles from home in Gorham. She’ll miss her mother, neighborhood and friends.

“Darcie is committed to her community, and is fully committed to a diverse list of activities,” Emery wrote.

In high school, Brown played field hockey, indoor track and lacrosse.

“She puts her heart into everything,” Emery told the American Journal.

From her school days in Gorham, Brown will carry fond memories. She’ll remember tailgating on the first and last days of school, homecoming in the fall and the football games.

“We stormed the field when the football team won its first game in three years,” she said.

Travel is on Brown’s radar, and she would like to study abroad. She and her mother are close and she said they’re “travel buddies.” They’ve visited Ireland annually, where her mother has family.

Brown finds the Irish cuisine tasty.

“I love home-cooked meals,” she said. “Mom is a great cook.”

She has already visited several European countries including Spain, where she and Gorham High friend Charlotte Smith taught English last summer as part of a language program. Brown is eyeing trips to more of the world like to Fiji and Brazil.

Favorite pastimes for Brown include spending time with her friends, swimming in pools, and hanging out at Old Orchard Beach, where fried dough is her favorite food.

At home, her mother is urging her to clean out her closet.

“I’m obsessed with clothes,” Brown admitted.

Besides academics, sports, traveling and community service, Brown has found time to work as a hostess at Texas Roadhouse in Scarborough for almost three years.

“I definitely like to stay busy,” she said.

Gorham High School senior Darcie Brown’s dedication to community service work was instrumental in her receiving a scholarship package at American University.Staff photo by Robert Lowell