By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Wearing his cap and gown and a big smile, Jonathan LaChance, 18, said he was “psyched” Friday night. Standing in a Lewiston High School hall, LaChance was about to march into the gym and graduate with 282 others.

Nicole Becker, 18, was scared and excited. She found graduation emotional. “I’ve been crying about this for a month,” she said.

Within minutes, the sea of blue and white marched into the gymnasium. The waiting crowd broke into applause. Cameras flashed.

Class President Luke Potter said he used to wonder if graduation would ever come. “Four years never went by so fast,” he said. Potter listed the accomplishments of his class, including winning the school spirit award three years in a row.

Salutatorian James Morin encouraged graduates to set goals. “If you fail, it’s all right, as long as you work admirably,” he said.

All 283 graduates are smart, Morin said. “We all made it, and we all deserve a round of applause.” His classmates complied.

Valedictorian Kimberly Lessard said success “is based on what you want to do. Make those decisions based on what is in your heart, and you will be successful,” she said.

Keynote speaker government teacher Michael Beaulieu showed up late.

After the sounds of a motorcycle were played, he walked in. To the delight of students, Beaulieu wore leather biker pants, a biker vest, gloves and a red bandanna. Then he put on his glasses to read, which didn’t go with his look. His sidekick “body guard,” English teacher Richard Townsend, walked in wearing jeans and a helmet.

Using plenty of humor, Beaulieu talked about how rebels are born, about the evolution of students. As freshmen students enter high school, they are afraid to speak so they don’t confirm the assumption they’re dorks.

Sophomores are a bit taller, less frightened, more experimental, he said. The metamorphism, the birth of the rebel, has begun. The junior year is a turning point, he said, and the school becomes smaller to them.

By the time they’re seniors, rebel seniors taste a sense of entitlement. The building is their domain, Beaulieu said. The year is filled with visiting colleges, working on applications, worrying about financial aid, demands of teachers and parents, working part time.

They begin to challenge teachers. They ask why do they have to have more exams. “Students say, You know, Beaulieu, every teacher thinks they’re the only one we have to work for,'” he said.

Girls ridicule him, speaking with their eyes. “Their message is loud and clear. We are tired of you and the likes of you,'” he said

The rebels have had it with school. They don’t always follow rules. They wonder how the administration will react. “Will they be mice, or men?” Beaulieu said, joking about a senior prank on June 2, when mice were let lose.

The evolution is annual, and is tied “to the need to leave that which is familiar and comfortable for something new and strange, even a bit scary,” Beaulieu said. “It is characterized by wonderful young people, like you, who have gained tremendous self confidence and share the determination to meet life’s new challenges. Don’t allow these rebel forces to rest.”

They’ll need that spirit as they move on, Beaulieu said.

Becker said she’s going to college in Vermont to study culinary arts. “I want to be a pastry artist.”

LaChance is off to Ithaca College to major in pre-med sciences. “After that, med school,” he said.

After the seniors turned their tassels from the right to the left, they watched fireworks set off on the athletic field.

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