PARIS — Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School’s graduation Saturday will see 235 students dressed in green and white robes, marching to receive their diplomas.

The 52nd annual commencement ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. June 7 at the Gouin Field Complex on Alpine Street in South Paris.

SAD 17 Superintendent Rick Colpitts said graduation is a unique time set aside to congratulate students.

“My feedback is to fly — go travel away from the area,” Colpitts said. “The times I’ve learned the most is through discomfort.” 

The keynote speaker is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Scott Allen of the Boston Globe, who graduated from Oxford Hills 35 years ago. 

Allen, who went on to study at Bowdoin College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, currently leads a team of investigative reporters at the Globe that specializes in uncovering government corruption.

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The evening will begin with a flag salute, following opening remarks from Principal Ted Moccia.

Speeches from Salutatorian Evangeline Kim and Valedictorian Kieran Sadler will follow. Afterward, class President Kane Williamson will introduce the keynote speaker.

Williamson will deliver closing remarks, and along with class Vice President Jesse Murch, will lead a candlelighting ceremony for students.  

This year’s graduation rate is 90 percent, though many of the 26 students not attending may receive their diplomas in the summer, according to principal’s secretary Kathy Bracken.

Colpitts said he hoped students would return to settle in Oxford Hills after pursuing their dreams elsewhere.

“Don’t forget about us,” he said. “I wonder where we would be if every student returned.”


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