BANGOR, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage thanked the teachers of John Bapst Memorial High school for their dedication to the graduating class during the 2015 Commencement Ceremony, and encouraged the students to use what they have to make their own way.
“All I can give you as graduates is these 10 two-letter words: If it is to be, it is up to me,” LePage told the 106 graduating seniors during the ceremony that was streamed live on the school’s website.
Lydia MacKay of Veazie, one of three class valedictorians, also thanked the staff and teachers, as well as fellow classmates, for four years of support, which included good times and bad.
“We have gone through a lot together through these four years,” she said. “Our senior year was especially tough.”
MacKay mentioned the mid-April fire that was caused by a maintenance worker using a torch to melt ice on the roof of the iconic building on Broadway, “and finally the tragedy earlier this year,“ in reference to a teacher who solicited nude photographs of a 16-year-old female student and then took his own life after police started their investigation.
“I‘m thankful these are the people who were [around to provide support],” she said of her classmates and school staff.
MacKay, who is not related to the school’s headmaster, went on to say the Class of 2015 has a “ridiculous amount of talent” and she fully expects that some will become professional musicians or artists or top professionals in their field of choice.
“I cannot wait to see what they do with their lives,” the valedictorian said. “Our class is truly amazing,” she said later.
The other valedictorians are Matthew Norris and Michael Tormey.
Friends and family of John Bapst Memorial High School seniors packed into the Sekera Auditorium on Sunday for the ceremony. The school includes students from 40 different towns, other states and several countries, including China, Japan and Albania, which provides students with a diverse educational environment, Headmaster Melvin MacKay III said at the beginning of the ceremony.
LePage used his childhood, which included a time when he lived on the streets of Lewiston, to demonstrate how determination can change lives, and told the students that many of the positive people in his life were involved in his education, especially his teachers at Husson College, now Husson University.
More than 90 percent of the graduating class are heading to college at schools in Maine and around the country, and some are planning to join the military, LePage said. He asked that the students think about Maine for their futures.
“I hope all these kids, when they become professionals, come home,” the governor said. “We are working [in Augusta] to achieve prosperity for you — our future leaders. We want you to find, not a job in Maine, but a career in Maine.”