JAY – Fifty-nine seniors marched down the center of the Jay High School gym Sunday in a ceremony that showed the effects that a small-town high school has on graduates.

“I say with great honor and great privilege, today is our day,” Class of 2007 President Joseph Gagnon said.

Gagnon talked about how “life is a gamble, and where you are now doesn’t tell where you will be in 30 or 40 years or in the end.”

The game of life, Gagnon said, is different from other games because it allows you to choose the outcome. This is why, he said, he likes that board game.

“I will not hesitate to choose any of you as a partner in this game,” Gagnon said to his classmates.

He also encouraged parents to stay in the lives of their children. “They enjoy your involvement more than their poker faces let on,” he said.

Valedictorian Anna LeBlanc discussed how after graduation the students will be part of the history of Jay High School. “One question remains,” she said. “How will you be remembered?

“Every individual has left something behind to be proud of,” she said, encouraging the class “to live with the aspiration to positively influence the lives of others.”

LeBlanc recognized a few of the people who influenced her, including a coach who inspired her to “enjoy your kids because you only have them for 18 years.”

Salutatorian Conrad Rier told of how he discovered he wanted to one day work for NASA as an engineer. When asked what made him want to do this, he said he is most likely to answer that he owes his dream to his childhood love of the movie “Star Wars,” but really, he said, he owes it to Jay High School. High school is what gives one aspirations, Rier said.

“If I hadn’t taken math classes here, I never would have wanted to go into engineering,” Rier said.

Principal John Robinson and Assistant Principal Kenrick Charles handed out 88 scholarships totaling $166,000, which Robinson said is impressive for a small town.

The class motto was: “In our hands we hold today; in our dreams we hold tomorrow; in our hearts we hold forever.”