PARIS — Set goals, dream big and reach for the stars.

That was the message former U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud gave the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Class of 2015 on Saturday evening as graduates received their diplomas at the Gouin Athletic Complex under a brilliant blue sky and a few fireworks.

Michaud used his life experiences to show what can be done with the help of family and friends who taught him to never stop working and never stop dreaming.

“If a millworker can serve in Congress, can run for governor, can be invited to speak to your graduating class, imagine all the things that you can do,” Michaud said to the some 232 graduating seniors.

From cleaning up the polluted Penobscot River to getting things done in the State House and later in Congress, Michaud said the key to success is respect.

“What made us successful?” he asked. “We listened to one another. We treated each other with respect. And when we disagreed, we did it in a way that allowed us to keep working together on other things.”

Michaud told the students that each one can make a difference in the world.

“Making a difference in our world is something you can do each and every day, so I challenge each of you to do something to positively impact our society.” he said.

“The world is ready for you, and I can see that you are ready for the world,” he said.

Reaching back to her childhood memories, Valedictorian Monica Harthorne recalled the monotonous chore of stacking eight cords of wood, which her father cut, her brother split and she stacked and moved and then moved and stacked again down into the basement before winter. Stack, split, stack and move, over and over again.

Why did they do it? The answer was to keep warm and comfortable in the winter, she said.

This year, as a high school senior, Harthorne said she learned about the Myth of Sisyphus, the story of a man who angers the gods and is condemned to push a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down to the bottom. Like Harthorne and the cords of wood, Sisyphus had the chore of rolling it up the hill over and over again.

Why did he do it? Harthorne said she asked herself. “The answer is, Sisyphus has a passion for life.”

Read, outline, think, outline, read, think again. The repetition of class assignments. Harthorne said she began to realize she went through the motions involved in completing class assignments over and over not just to please her teachers and her parents but because it pleased her.

“Today, we are here because we have done those many repetitive and monotonous tasks,” Harthorne said. “We stressed, we cried, we got angry, we laughed, and we persevered. We’ve reached the top of Oxford Hills. We did it. We stacked wood.”

Salutatorian Kathryn Davie also spoke about the security of the monotony of school.

“This is not just a beginning,” she said. “This is an end to the monotonous routine we have known these last four years. We are now stripped of the security of our high school, the A222s, the B116’s, the timely bells, (Principal Ted) Moccia’s greetings in the morning, the familiar faces of faculty and friends, snow days, morning songs, Mrs. Holden doling out late slips, dances, love affairs in the corner of every hallway, senior privileges, and words of the week.”

After diplomas were presented, Class President Harrison Linfield and Class Vice President Caroline Feeney led a candle-lighting ceremony to express the unity of the class and the hope it will never be extinguished.

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Class Facts

232: Graduates in the Class of 2015

140: Going to college (two- or four-year programs)

9: Going to in-state training schools

14: Joining the military

57: Going into the workforce

12: Unknown

Class motto: “I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” – Anonymous

How the class will be remembered: “For their kindness,” said Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Principal Ted Moccia. “They are a group of students who care deeply for their peers, the staff and faculty here at Oxford Hills.”