A commencement ceremony for the 237 graduating Bangor High School students on Sunday celebrated their growth and resiliency through the past four years.
“Today isn’t just a goodbye, it’s a celebration,” senior Jacob Biberstein told the crowd at the Cross Insurance Center after the senior members of the school’s chamber choir sang the national anthem.
The ups and downs of high school life shaped the class of 2025, whether they recognized it or not, according to Biberstein. Everyday actions became habits that became character, he said, which will serve the graduates in the new challenges of adult life.
See photos from the ceremony
Biberstein, whose speech was chosen by a faculty committee, also highlighted the determination, effort and cooperation it took to reach the graduation stage.
“It’s about every time you got knocked down, got back up, and kept climbing anyway. We don’t just reach the top, we earned it together,” he said. “And when life gets hard again — and it will — remember this moment. Not because it was easy, but because we did it anyway.”
Biberstein also thanked administrators, teachers, guidance staff and parents for their support; Principal Paul Butler made a special acknowledgement of the class’ parents for Father’s Day. Along with parental support, it took grit and grace from the students to reach graduation, Butler said.
The class of 2025 had some periods of competitiveness in their younger years, characteristic of the school’s mascot the Rams, senior class president McKenzie Vorenkamp said.
But, like rams, they were also able to scale tough terrain and climb mountains.
“When boulders begin to tumble down before us, because they will, we won’t turn back,” she said. “We’ll lower our heads, dig in our hooves and push forward.”
In place of naming valedictorian or salutatorian, Butler presented the Charles E. French medals to the four seniors with the highest academic performance: Teagan Atherley, Alexander Busko, Jenna Elkadi and Isabel Harrow.
Overall, students received more than $200,000 in scholarships and awards, according to Butler. The commencement also recognized those who enlisted in the armed forces.
Following speeches and recognitions of achievements, the students received their diplomas to applause, cheers, screams and occasional air horns from hundreds in the crowd, then turned their tassels and walked out to the high school’s victory song.
