RANGELEY — A Saturday afternoon high school graduation ended with an exuberant rock ‘n’ roll boogie down the aisle.

Rangeley Lakes Regional School valedictorian Allison Hammond urged her classmates to thank those who helped them along the way, saying she had become the person she was because of those who guided her.

“I have the best friends, family and classmates anyone could ever ask for,” she said. “There isn’t a person I won’t miss.”

Among her academic and athletic accomplishments, Hammond traveled the two-hour round trip from Rangeley to Foster Regional Applied Technology Center in Farmington twice a week to become a certified nursing assistant. She will begin advanced nursing studies at the University of Maine in Orono this fall.

Her parents, Reggie Hammond and Janet Waugaman, watched proudly, but even her father couldn’t explain where she got her energy and drive.

“She’s always been like that, even when she was little,” he said.

Salutatorian Sierra Marchacos, daughter of Stephen and Linda Marchacos, added some levity to the traditional formality.

“Forty years from now, who knows where we’ll be?” she said. “We’ll come to our class reunion, some of us with grandchildren drooling on our shoulders, some in business suits, and almost certainly one of us will come through the doors with his mom behind him, yelling, ‘Wait honey! You forgot your lunch!'”

Marchacos will start Unity College in the fall, pursuing studies in science and biology.

After speeches, diplomas and awards, seniors began the traditional dignified recessional. Family and friends snapped photos, cheered and waved. Abruptly, the music stopped and students froze.

“What’s going on?” someone whispered.

Joey Dee and the Starliters ’60s hit, “Shout!” exploded from the speakers around them. Students shimmied to a raucous mix of tunes and the audience joined the fun as students kept the party going down the aisle and out the door.