WATERVILLE — A 38-year veteran and retiring teacher urged the Waterville Senior High School graduates Thursday to use their imaginations, do things they enjoy, find a job they love and set goals allowing them to fulfill their potential.
Richard Fuller, chairman of the math department, told the 119 seniors not to be afraid to make mistakes.
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“We all do,” he said. “That’s how we learn. Pick yourself up and move on.”
Fuller promised seniors that life also is full of wonders and adventures; it is not about the stuff they collect, the car they drive, the big screen TV they have or the designer clothes they wear.
“Life is about family and friends; how you are treated and how you treat others.”
After being introduced by class President Michael Bailey, Fuller stood before a crowd of about 1,000 family members and friends who gathered at Colby College’s Wadsworth Gymnasium for the school’s 134th commencement exercises.
He told seniors that, as they continue on their life’s journey, it is important to remember who they are and where they came from.
“Stand tall and proud and embrace your heritage,” he said. “You are the members of the Waterville Senior High School class of 2012. All of us here today love you and proudly send you on your way.”
School Principal Don Reiter infused some humor into Thursday’s ceremonies, declaring that last Thanksgiving, he was bald and beardless. Now, he sports a thick head of hair and a beard and many people do not recognize him.
“People and places that change to the point of being unrecognizable have been somewhat of a theme for this year’s seniors,” Reiter said. “Not only did their principal evolve into someone they did not recognize, but last fall they returned to a school they did not recognize.”
He was referring to a school renovation project that transformed both the interior and exterior of the school.
“Every year, freshmen show up to the school not knowing how to find their classes,” he said. “This year, even the seniors did not know where they were going.”
His comments drew laughter from the crowd. On a more serious note, Reiter spoke of seniors who succeeded despite adversity. He said there were those who chose to forego extracurricular activities so they could work to help their parents make ends meet, those who attended school while raising children of their own and those who persevered through high school, undeterred by serious and chronic illness.
There were even students who overcame the obstacle of homelessness to graduate, earned industry certifications at Mid-Maine Technical Center that will give them an advantage in entering the workforce and students who joined the armed forces.
“Every member of the class of 2012 has changed in innumerable ways over the last four years and has his or her own individual success story,” Reiter said. “We are all proud of you and we applaud you all.”
Before marching into the gymnasium, friends Gabrielle Gorczyca, 19, and Cheyenne Tardiff, 18, both of Waterville, and Mary-Christina Edgecomb, 19, of Skowhegan, spoke about their plans for the fall.
Gorczyca said she will attend Kennebec Valley Community College to finish general education courses and then will attend culinary school. She said her MMMT teacher, chef William Robertson, was “an amazing instructor.”
“He helped us understand the fundamentals of cooking as well as the correct terminology,” she said.
Tardiff also plans to attend culinary school after first earning a cosmetology degree so she can earn the money to attend, she said. Robertson, she said, made cooking fun and interesting.
“He didn’t just sit in class and lecture; he taught us hands-on, to cook and do different things,” she said.
Edgecomb said she was awarded an administrator’s contract from Skowhegan to attend high school in Waterville. She plans to move to New York, take a year off from school and then earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology, adding that she hopes to become a psychologist.
“It will probably be criminal psychology,” she said. “I like studying people and why they do the things that they do.”
The three promised to stay in touch with each other, no matter where life leads.
“We have Facebook and cellphones,” Edgecomb said.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com
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