Monmouth Academy sends out 49 seniors
BY MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 06/09/2008

MONMOUTH -- Merissa Beaulieu, class president, welcomed everyone who braved the heat on Sunday to attend Monmouth Academy's graduation ceremony.

Then gave the thumbs-up to amour, amour, which got her a round of applause.

"Just think, if our parents hadn't made love around the same time we wouldn't be sharing this," Beaulieu said.

On Sunday, 49 seniors celebrated the end of their childhood and the beginning of life's journey with song, music and goodwill speeches.

Beaulieu said they were the most successful, wittiest and best-looking group of young people around and wished them all the best of luck in the years to come.

"Remember, there are 48 other people who shared the same experiences and there will always be someone there to lift the weight off your shoulders," she said.

Many of the graduates plan on attending college. Michael Danforth, 19, is enrolled in the criminal justice program at the University of Maine at Augusta.

Danforth said he looked forward to graduating, but was a little nervous.

"What we're doing today with my classmates, this will be our last time together," Danforth said.

Brittany Hilton, 17, will be heading off to Arizona State College to study psychology. Brittany said she also was a little nervous about life after graduation. she said she is sad to leave behind her friends and faculty, who she said are amazing -- not only with helping students with academics, but with personal issues as well.

"It's like a new chapter in my life," Brittany said. "I'm going to be moving away from everyone I know."

Before the processional began, Paul Kinsey Jr. patiently waited in his maroon and gold cap and gown on the sidelines.

Kinsey had no qualms about heading out into the world on his own.

He looked forward to starting classes at Central Maine Community College in October where he will be studying culinary arts.

He wants to work in food service, but hasn't decided on a particular field to specialize in as of yet.

Right now he's into soups.

The 18-year-old has been experimenting with a cream of mushroom soup recipe that he said is amazing.

It wasn't life that had him on edge. It was marching in the processional.

"Marching is actually hard," Kinsey said. "It's simple steps. The hard part is keeping in rhythm with each other and spacing. It's so exact. I don't want to mess up everyone."

When it came to the first honor speaker's time at the podium, valedictorian Kaytlin Woodman, 18, asked the audience a question.

She wanted to know at how many schools students could look back at their parents' yearbooks and see the same teachers.

When her class entered as freshman, she said it was clear that they were the new kids on the block. There were none of those teachers who students could sense were fresh and just waiting to be taken advantage of.

"Nope!" Woodman said. "They all already had plenty of experience. Even the teachers who weren't in those old yearbooks hadn't just come into the picture. We could tell they had still been here for quite a while and they used their well learned skills to craft us into the graduates we are today."

She said Monmouth Academy is about consistency, and the morals that these teachers taught. It's also about the community being involved and everyone being given a chance.

Aside from just the teachers, Woodman, who will attend Brown University in the fall in the biology pre-medical program, said students had a crucial part in making education what it was.

And family and friends.

"We owe you a tremendous thank you," she said. "The support that we received from you every day pushed us to reach this point. Together with you, the teachers and this school I believe we all received the best high school education in this state."

Mechele Cooper--623-3811, Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com

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