MDI GRADUATES!
BAR HARBOR—On Sunday afternoon, Mount Desert Island High School graduated and celebrated 116 seniors as those students finished their years of high school on Mount Desert Island. It was the 56th Mount Desert Island High School graduation according to Principal Matt Haney.
The afternoon ceremony in Bernard Parady Gymnasium brought the island and surrounding communities together as they celebrated the graduation of their students.
Senior Emma Simard delivered the welcome address. Feleke Lynch and Sig Reinholdt also gave speeches during the ceremony, which lasted approximately 90 minutes.
Simard called the moment “a significant milestone in our lives, a moment we've all worked very hard to achieve. As we stand on the brink of new beginnings, let us take a moment to celebrate our accomplishments, cherish the memories we've made, and look forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. We have learned not just from textbooks (and) teachers … but we've grown through challenges.”
The class dealt with new online school tools, active shooter drills, as well as a lockdown and evacuation, and the COVID pandemic.
“We gather today to celebrate these young adults who both invested in and been nurtured by this vibrant community,” Haney said. “It has been a true joy and honor to engage with them and collaborate. I'd like to take a few minutes to acknowledge those who have supported them along the way.”
The high school, he said, was deeply grateful for the generosity of the local community in sponsoring students’ futures.
“This year we're thrilled to announce that our graduates have received approximately $600,000 in scholarships,” he told the packed gymnasium.
Lynch also mention the challenges that the class had to overcome.
“In the midst of these weird times, we learn to adapt; we learn resilience; and most importantly, we learn to appreciate the importance of community because the shared experience of adversity has the ability to bring people together and create close bonds that may not have ever existed,” he said.
Lynch also mentioned the stressors that the class had to face.
“I think that we, as high school students, face a lot of stress in our lives. We're teenagers, which means we're at a stage in life where we want to do so many things that we may not necessarily have the power or resources to do,” he said. “We are getting ready to transition into the real world. Some of us are going to college. Some of us are going to the workforce, and some of us may have no idea what they're doing, and that's okay. I think our society is built around comparing ourselves to others. We see what our peers are doing and think that we need hold ourselves to the same standards, but that couldn't be further from the truth. No matter what path you choose, you are still on the way into your life where you need to make choices without the influence of others because, in reality, ten years from now, each and every one of us will be in a completely different place.”
Reinhold said that as he tried to create a speech for the day, he wasn’t sure how to capture the spirit of his class.
“The word individualism comes to mind, but it doesn't really begin to define the breadth of personality I see in our class today,” he said.
Then he looked for wisdom to impart.
“I've been keeping fish for about eight years now, and I've loved them for even longer. In such presumably simple creatures, I see beauty and (in fact) an approach to life that I've really come to envy as my own life has grown more vast.”
He mentioned the climbing perch that thrust themselves from the mud and the leaps of faith the fish have to take as they emerge.
Haney also gave out numerous top scholar commendations.
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