POLAND – Stephanie Sawyer’s graduation day started simply: She woke up, took a shower, got ready with all of her graduation garb and “took a whole lot of pictures.”

At the high school Saturday night, her family proudly swarmed around her, snapping more photos to commemorate the monumental feat of a high school graduation.

“We’re so happy,” said her stepfather, Arnie Cyr. “We’re ecstatic!”

His sentiment echoed those of parents, siblings, grandparents and other relatives attending the Poland Regional High School graduation.

A quote from Winston Churchill hung over the stage, suggesting that it wasn’t the end, but “perhaps, the end of the beginning,” as 118 seniors marched in blue caps and gowns into the gym.

Principal Cari Medd welcomed the school’s 10th graduating class, calling them “genuine rock stars.”

She recalled how the community had made the relatively new school a top contender in the area and thanked the first group of seniors to graduate under her for being so welcoming and warm to her over the year.

Alyson Schadler stood on a chair to reach the podium’s microphone to give the valedictory speech. She spoke of the gratitude she felt toward her fellow classmates, teachers and family and thanked each for their continued support.

“The relationships we experienced made high school worthwhile,” she said. “Now is the time to stop roaming the halls and embark on a new adventure. We did it, and we’re out of here.”

Humanities teacher Laurie Sevigny gave the keynote address. She and her co-workers had compiled a list of adjectives to describe the class of 2009: passionate, “stress monkeys,” a “class of characters,” individualistic, playful, outspoken, confident, “a little over the top,” resilient, melodramatic and “great fun but late, late and late,” among others.

“Is it these words about you that are important?” Sevigny asked. “Perhaps.” She explained that there are only a few things that really matter in life: the way you treat others and the way you touch the lives of others. She reminded them that failure was part of life’s process, but how they handle those failures is what’s really important.

In Brittney Bell’s salutatory speech, she pointed out fellow classmates who had made exceptional accomplishments in their senior year. Playing a snippet from a song that lost out to being the recessional, she joked about the differences some of them may have, but encouraged the importance of working through those differences.

Poland Regional High School’s class of 2009 made their way out of the gymnasium to Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again.” Truly a rock star exit.