BRIDGTON – The 195th commencement at Bridgton Academy in North Bridgton was held May 10 in the Bridgton Ice Arena. More than 800 parents and friends were present as Headmaster David N. Hursty presented awards to the graduating class.

Diplomas were conferred by the president of the Board of Trustees, Robert L. Teel Jr., class of 1965. Darrin Shine of Augusta, Ga., delivered the invocation and Moses Foday Sonko of East Greenwich, RI, the benediction. The co-valedictorians were Timothy Beach of Virginia Beach, Va., and Michael Starkman of Perth, Ontario, Canada.

Selected by the faculty as class speaker was Anthony Morando of Malden, Mass., Academy faculty member and head football coach Richard R. Marcella of North Bridgton was honored with the presentation of the first annual Richard R. Marcella Award presented to a student who, like Marcella, possesses integrity, honesty, compassion and a commitment to the pursuit of excellence in all areas at Bridgton Academy and beyond. This year the award was presented to Ryan Sousa of Gloucester, Mass.

Other awards were presented as follows:

Gould Award, Anthony Morando; Buck Award, Kent Matthews; Alumni Award, Moses Sonko; Hough Award, Joseph Doyle, Brunswick; Howe Award, Darrin Shine; Citizenship Award, Haven Quinn; Sportsmanship Award, Chris Sparkes; Annie R. and Horace A. Flint Jr. Improvement Award, Timothy LeGrow and Lucasz Obrzut; Faculty Award, Patrick Allen, Samuel Kiningham, Daniel McMullen, Earl D. Newby Jr., Joseph O’Connell and Marc Santuccio; O’Brien Award, Timothy Ryan; Diane C. Fabello Memorial Award, Jonathan Hauge, Portsmouth, NH; Blanch Award, Luis Mendez Jr.

Spooner Award, Timothy Beach; Headmaster’s Award, Samuel Fleegle; Russell A. Pitnof ’34 Award, Jeffrey Harding; Chadbourne Award, Timothy Beach and Michael Starkman; Holt Awards, English and Math, Timothy Beach; social science, Thomas Summers Jr., physical science, Marc Santuccio; computer science, Colin Brownell.

DeFelice English Award, Joshua O. Turner. Sylvester Spelling Prize, Cory Nellissen; Allan J. Bertrand Creative Writing Award, Michael Starkman; Brown Fund Public Speaking Prize, first place Robert Mulkey and second place Joseph Doyle; Brown Fund Essay Prize, first place, Haven Quinn and second place, Timothy Beach; Lee and Carol Noble Fine Arts Award, Brandon Pimentel; Williams College Book Award, Ryan Noren; Austin Football Award, Robert Ammel.

Douglas R. Avery Award, Timothy Ryan; Desorrento Soccer Award, Zachary Wise; Fabello Hockey Award, Chris Sparkes; Al Harry Improvement Award, Patrick Allen; Corey Smith Memorial Award, Alexander Johnson.