RANGELEY – When your class has only 18 people in it it’s hard not to irk each other, at least once in awhile, Sarah Simonds told her classmates and the audience gathered Saturday for Rangeley Lakes Regional School’s graduation ceremonies.

Simonds, the class of 2007’s valedictorian, said 14 of graduates had gone to school together since kindergarten.

“So for the most part, we have been stuck together, for better or for worse, for as long as we can remember,” Simonds said. “And I think we would all agree that our unique experience together has been both a blessing and a curse.”

Secrets are hard to keep in a small town and in a small class, she said. “We know things about each other that none of us ever really needed to know,” Simonds said. “And we are always fighting about something.”

But that kind of closeness also means her class is unique and much more like a family, she said.

“Whether we will admit it openly is questionable, but we genuinely care for one another,” Simonds said. “When one of us is hurting, we all hurt. When one of us triumphs, we all triumph.”

Simonds said how time this close-knit group spent together and with the community shaped them into individuals.

“We feel like we never really understood how lucky we are until this very moment,” she said. “And though we’ve spent our senior year anxiously awaiting this day – though we feel ready to face the world – we wonder how we’re supposed to say goodbye.”

Sonja Johnson, the school’s art teacher and the homeroom teacher for the Class of 2007, said she saved drawings 14 of the students did when they were in kindergarten. The series of drawings, done by the students then, were supposed to show what they would look like when they grew up, Johnson said. “I think they were one of their best gifts as they spent a lot of time looking at them and talking about them with each other,” Johnson recalled Tuesday.

Johnson said 17 of the 18 graduates had plans for college or had been accepted. One class member is joining the military.

The class was the 100th to graduate from the high school, and joining in the celebration were members of the Class of 1957, which was the 50th class to graduate from the school. Class of 1957 member John Philbrick was the guest speaker, with 12 of his classmates in attendance, Johnson said.

Two previous students of the school were also awarded diplomas Saturday, Johnson said. George Edmond Washington was awarded an honorary diploma from the school.

Saul Collins Sr., a World War II veteran, was awarded a diploma, Johnson said. Collins quit school in his junior year to join the military.

The Class of 2007 also presented the school with a red maple sapling. “Like our tree, this school will continue to grow strong and full as the years pass,” Simonds told her classmates and the audience.

The graduates are: Simonds, Salutatorian Krista Brackett, Lynsie Bachelder, Travis Carignan, Domenic Cerminara, Daniel Duchesne, Shanelle Dugan, Emily George, Ryan Gordon, Zeke Sorensen-Hall, David Jensen, Lindsey Marquis, Jeremy Plowman, Jacqueline Seaman, Jennifer Tully, Steven vanSoeren, Roy White Jr. and Vanessa White.