LEWISTON – Principal Patrick Hartnett pulled out an old note from a senior – a senior from the first graduating class in 1899 – to show his new Leavitt Area High School grads some things never change, and he said, to remind them, they’re part of something bigger.

The note begins: “It hardly seems possible that it was four years ago that we entered Leavitt as green and gawky freshman.” After the ceremony, Valedictorian Spencer Hathaway said he could relate to that.

“I was a little of an awkward, gawky freshman,” Hathaway said. “In four years, we’ve changed so much. It’s such a difference, even though it’s gone by so quick.”

On Sunday, Leavitt graduated 155 seniors in an afternoon ceremony at the nearly-packed Androscoggin Bank Colisee. They accepted diplomas, girls first in white, then boys in green, to loud cheers and a few squeaks of an airhorn.

“When I heard the speeches, it made me want to cry, (so she told herself) ‘Suck it up’ and now it’s over,” said Madeena Lanford, posing for photos with family in front of the podium.

At least she’d gotten past the big worry: “Not tripping.” She plans to study nursing at the University of Maine at Augusta in the fall.

Hathaway, who’ll study business administration at the University of Maine, gave a speech about never backing down from a challenge.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet, the fact that I’m maybe not going to be seeing a lot of these people again,” he said.

Class President Cassandra Brown, who led the tassel change from the stage before hats flew up in the air, said she hadn’t been sure how to write her speech so she approached it as if Leavitt was a person and she was signing its yearbook.

Her arms wrapped around four bouquets afterward, she said excitement had helped ward off nerves. She plans to study dancing and kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Walking through the crowd of grads and parents, Hartnett said this had been a great class academically, athletically and in the arts.

“They’ve left a great legacy at Leavitt,” he said.

James Duncan, who quickly shrugged out of his green gown after photos with family, said he’s going to Endicott College in the fall to study photography and communications.

“(I’m) pretty excited and nervous – not for graduation, but for everything else,” Duncan said.