BETHEL — Before the Pomp and Circumstance, before the graduates processed into the gymnasium in their royal blue regalia through an arch of blue and white balloons, Principal Mark Kenney asked parents to stand so that their graduates could present them with carnations. Seniors scouted the rows of chairs and bleachers, finding their families and handed them each a flower. Only then, with their chief supporters recognized did the night’s Friday night’s graduation ceremony in the gymnasium at Telstar Regional High School truly begin.

In two lines, seniors filed in through the arch, some high fiving, some jumping or dancing as they met their processional partner. The entire class of 2022, all 37 seniors sat on stage for the event.

“I see people I know, people I like, people I’ve spent years growing up with,” Valedictorian Eleanor “E.B.” Hoff told the gathering of family, friends, classmates and teachers. She compared her experience to her mother’s graduation in Florida, 32 years earlier, with close to a thousand graduates, only a few she recognized, with teachers she hardly knew and a principal she tried to avoid.

“There were sports teams she never watched compete and clubs she barely knew existed,” Hoff said. “She had more opportunities and all the benefits of a larger school, but it was incredibly easy for her to slip through the cracks and it was even easier for her not to get to know her classmates.

“I know every name that will be called at graduation,” Hoff, who is headed to Bowdoin College, said. “And I am just as happy for their success as I am for mine. When each new person walks across the stage, I’ll remember canoeing with them freshmen year or building mouse trap car in eighth grade, or picking flowers on the playground in elementary school. I’ll get my diploma not from some strange unknown administrator but from the guy who let us tape him to a wall in middle school.

“I am surrounded by people who are not just my classmates by are truly my friends. We are each other’s biggest supporters, loudest cheerleaders, and fiercest defenders. My ski team this year was composed of my little sister, two freshman I’ve known since they were babies, and Molly–my best friend! We seniors care for the younger classmates as if they were family and in a way they are. This closeness is unlike anything at a larger school. I would drop everything for you guys,” she told her classmates.

Hoff quoted Herman Melville saying, ‘“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect with our fellow man.’ I see 37 fibers in this room, binding us together and pulling us into the future. The future is bright. I have no doubt that every last one of us will succeed in whatever we pursue. I wouldn’t trade you for the world. I love you guys, I will miss you, I will never forget you. Thanks for always staying with me.”

Telstar Middle and High School Principal Mark Kenney has been principal for this class for all seven years. “So that’s special for me,” he said in a phone call earlier that week. “They have been a small class all along, but they are a very unified group, helping with school spirit, playing sports, and joining clubs. “They were freshman for the last non-COVID year. They’ve spent their whole career dealing with restrictions, remote learning, and had to navigate through all of that.”

Kenney gave them credit for trying to have a traditional high school senior year, bringing back homecoming (which they held outside) and prom (three years since they’d had that).

Senior class presidents Bailey Fraser and Myles Lilly highlighted some of the difficulties their class faced. Bailey reminded them how much they struggled as freshmen but really started to come together as a class when they won winter carnival sophomore year.

“But then the unthinkable happened,” Fraser said. “Just a few weeks later our whole world shut down. We spent the rest of the year socializing though a computer screen. As junior year came, the class was broken up–half of us remote and the other half in person but with many restrictions. It was hard to have a normal year while wearing masks, social distancing and constantly being sent home due to COVID exposures.”

“As senior year flew by our class grew closer. To show our strength we got it together and we won winter carnival for the second time.” Fraser echoed her classmate E.B. Hoff, adding, “We proved that we are more than a small town, more than a small a small school, more than a small class, we are a family.

Scholarships and awards were presented on Thursday night at an event they named, “A Coming Together.” Obviously many of the awards went to those students at the podium on Friday.

In addition to being named valedictorian, E.B. Hoff received a Project Opportunity Educational Assistance Award as well as the Mundt-Allen Post #81 American Legion Medal, along with Andrew Leighton.

Salutatorian Julia Head, who is headed to Clark University, also received the Eva Bean Memorial, Mount Abram Fish & Game, Pleasant Valley Grange, and Jackson Silver American Legion Auxiliary educational assistance awards, as well as the Mahoosuc Kids Association and Señora Ojeda book awards and a Telstar Alumni Association Award. She was named the Project Opportunity Sunday River Ski Resort Scholar.

Myles Lilly, who is headed to Maine Orono, received a Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce Student Citizenship Award, Franklin Savings Bank scholarship, and Dan Hannon ‘Love of the Game’ and Project Opportunity educational assistance awards.

Bailey Fraser, who is headed to the University of New Hampshire, received a River Fund Scholarship, Dorothy Palmer Memorial and Kris, Regan Kauf Memorial, Sally Craig Future Teacher, and Project Opportunity educational assistance awards, and a Telstar Alumni Association Award.

Nicole Cox, who will attend Plymouth State, received the AB Taylor Memorial, Bethel Foodliner Pat Glidden Memorial, Christopher Powell Memorial, Ripley & Fletcher Ford Company, Gilead Student, and Project Opportunity educational assistance awards, as well as a Telstar Alumni Association Award.

Megan Cox, attending St. Joseph’s College, received the Bethel Foodliner Pat Glidden Memorial, Bethel Rescue, Gilead Historical Society, Gilead Student, Sarah Craig Future Teacher, Telstar Educational Association and Bethel Rotary Club’s Charles Feld Memorial educational assistance awards, as well as a Telstar Alumni Association Award. She was named a Project Opportunity O’Brien Scholar.

Leah Kimball, who will attend Husson University, was named the Project Opportunity Otten Scholar. She received the Annie Crockett Foundation, Lester C. Bickford Memorial, Telstar High School Parent Volunteers, and Jackson Silver American Legion Auxiliary educational assistance awards, Rumford Group Homes Nancy Boggan-Murphy Scholarship, the Melmac Tyler/Grandmaison Principal’s Scholarship, and a Telstar Alumni Association Award.

Natasha Mason, who is headed to Old Dominion University, was named the Project Opportunity Phil Taylor Scholar and received Bethel Rotary Club Ed Quinn Memorial, Luke Davis Memorial, Northern Oxford County Health & Service Council, Oxford Federal Credit Union, and Hancock Lumber educational assistance awards. She also received a Telstar Alumni Association Award.

Sophie Hanscom, also headed to UMaine Orono, received the Annie Crockett Foundation, Bethel Rescue, Bethel Rotary Club’s Floyd Mason Memorial, Kevin Powell Memorial, Telstar High School Parent Volunteers, Telstar Educational Association, Project Opportunity, and Jackson Silver American Legion Auxiliary educational assistance awards, as well as the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce Student Citizenship and Telstar Alumni Association awards.

Adeline Charette, Darren Dodson-Welch, Andrew Leighton, and Jacob Lyman were recognized by the Region 9 Technical Honor Society.

Charette, who will attend Maine Augusta, also received the Rumford Eagles Youth, A.B. Taylor Memorial, Annie Crockett Foundation, Jackson Silver American Legion Auxiliary, and Oxford County Mineral and Gem Association educational assistance awards, as well as the Mitchell Institute Scholarship.

Macie Hallett received the Woodstock Student Educational Assistance Award. Jordan Berry, Alexander Giddings, and Maya Taylor received Newry Student Educational Assistance Awards. Bryson Carr received the Andover Alumni Association Math Award.

Brayden Stevens received the Michael Brooks Memorial Educational Assistance Award, and Samuel Corriveau received a Gilead Student Educational Assistance Award.

Molly Pereira, who will attend Plymouth State, received a Project Opportunity Educational Assistance Award as well as Bethel Rotary Club’s Bill Conary Educational Assistance Award.

 

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