Kennebunk High grads told to take risks: 'You have the power to change the world'

Yahoo

4 hours ago

KENNEBUNK — Kennebunk High School Valedictorian Emilia Ilyas remembers when the question of her future shifted from fantasy to 'evoking anxiety.'
'I unfortunately had to accept that I would never live in a castle,' Ilyas said.
Ilyas, speaking to 168 of her classmates at their graduation ceremony on June 8, said much of life is too focused on the future. She encouraged students to embrace the moment on the school's football field as they prepared to stand and receive their diplomas as the Class of 2025.
'Yes, we're actually graduating. It's real. And it's fleeting,' Ilyas said. 'Let's not forget to be here before we go out there.'
A total of 174 students graduated from Kennebunk High School this year, and 169 chose to walk, according to Principal Scott Tombleson. Students gathered on the field in front of friends and loved ones as they turned their tassels and tossed their caps.
Superintendent Terri Cooper told students that Sunday marked 'not an ending, but a beginning.'
She told students to take risks, travel to 'places that scare and excite' them, and apply for their dream job.
'You have the power to change the world,' Cooper said, 'Whether through grand gestures or quiet moments of compassion.'
Kennebunk High School graduate Cooper Thompson told students they grew not just academically, but in their ability to adapt and lead through change. He said students have seen their school evolve over the past four years, welcoming new teachers, coaches, assistant principals, and even a new principal in Tombleson this past year.
Every year brought a different rhythm, new expectations, and fresh faces, he said.
'Through it all, we didn't just adjust, but we thrived,' Thompson said. 'That speaks to who we are as a class – resilient, flexible and strong.'
The day's faculty speaker, history and social studies teacher Rebecca Moy, put a focus on sports as she described the passion with which she has followed the Oakland Raiders since she was a child. She said sports bring out the best in people who strive to compete. She encouraged students to pursue their passions with the same effort many athletes show in athletics.
'To love sports is to understand the value of competition in testing your personal limits and to make a stand for what you've trained for or what you believe in,' Moy said.
She concluded her speech, 'This is about the sincere gratitude I have for those graduates who have allowed me to be a part of your lives and let me share the passions I have.'
More: Kennebunk High School names top 10% students in Class of 2025
The day marked Kennebunk High School's 150th graduation. Tombleson, hired in August 2024, said he did not take lightly his role as one of about 20 principals who have led the school.
Tombelson described the history of Kennebunk 150 years ago — how shipbuilding was in decline in Maine while tourism was on the rise. He spoke about how the first Kennebunk High School graduation might have had families in town for the graduation staying at the Ocean Bluffs Hotel on Cape Arundel, overlooking Walker's Point, 'having no idea the global significance that small spit of land would one day hold.' (It was and still is owned by the Bush family, who produced two presidents of the United States.)
Tombelson said they could not have imagined the student body and its community gathering in 2025. At the time, 150 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell had only just invented the telephone. At the June 8 ceremony, students took photos with their cell phones.
To build on his point about history, Tombleson asked everyone who graduated from Kennebunk High School to stand up. He then asked those who graduated before the year 2015 to remain standing, then continued to count back each decade until no more were standing. The numbers went back to the 1960s before every person was sitting, the last met with loud applause.
'Together, we can build across generations,' Tombleson said. 'Together, we can renew our hope and faith in the life that is yet to unfold.'
Alexis Vetrano
Lucia Collin Reigosa
Shay Smithwick
Tru Jarvis
Melody Rousselle
Lila Turley
Nova Genest
Megan Ames
James Bertus Trudo
Noah Richardson
Emilie Barter
Dominique Owen
Willow Knowles
Caroline Tabor
Kathryn Manning
Emilia Ilyas
Logan Lefebvre
Emily Dube
Thomas Morin
Mykyta Vykhodtsev
Ella Beals
William Turgeon
Elijah Blanchard
Collin Reetz
Parker Plourde
Ethan Burr
Charles Majkowski
Alexandros Cartwright
Phoenix Williams
Hank Flynn
Ainsley Harden
Philip Dyer
William McMann
Aaron Rosen
Luis Roberts
Jacob Ghans
Ryan Clark
Sarah Vargonen
Alexandria White
Gray Rogers
Skylar Holder
Emma Orendorf
Katherine Orendorf
Donovan Kendrick
Jonas Adams
Alexander Adams
Benjamin Johnson
Norah McLeod
Sasha Altshule
Taylor Giles
Talia Kellum
Juliann Pike
Anna Fox
Maximilian Prosenc
Elan Keys
Cooper Samson
Samuel Haley
Finley Knappe
Mekhi Gillard
Finneas Coldreck
Jordann Gilpatric
Eliza Herring
Owen Swain
Connor Therrien
Riley Pelletier
Novalee Page-Auger
William Eagleson
Amara Roberts
Annabelle Welch
Kylee Caron
Otto Fontaine
Declan McGlashan
Eva Havey
Kellyn Zambrano
Alexis Snow
Robert Pollard
Isabel Esch
Makena Garriepy
Mikayla Kimball
Kelsey Ewing
Karla Hernandez-Vinajero
Cindy Perez-Vinajero
Eva MacDonald
Summer Shea
Simone Houdlette
Hannah Keene
Owen Snow
Jacob Emmons
Eric Schoener
Wyatt Boulette
Gabrielle D'Orso-Palmer
Grace Mitchell
Anna Smiley
Madelyn Smith
Delaney Hanson
Camryn Houle
Noah Hammond
Andrew Johnson
Owen Quitog
Samuel Pietrowicz
Charley Norton
Ian Pentland
Anthony D'Elia
Kyle Barron
Marcelo Pastora Caballero
Bennett Webster
Maya Kimball
Elizabeth Torstensen
Ella Pitchforth
Abigail Jenannette
Lorelei Ogden
Maeve Noble
Nicholas Vasquez
Mario Real
Christopher Smith
Jacob Labrador
Avery Rossics
Elsa Liberatore
Isabella Donnery
Aubree Veilleux
Kaden Stevens
Jenna Wright
Grace O'Neil
Ryan Hansen
Jackson Thombs
Wyatt Hafer
Bronwyn Parkhurst
Mya Todd
Tanner Wendle
Ava Kane
Mason Binette
Meghan Taggart
Nicole Axelsen
Sonja Frederich
Eliza Sayer
Abigaile Santerre
Molly McKinney
Addison Carbone
Cenzie Cunningham
Audrey Madden
Weston Church
Blake Dallara
Theo Pow
Benjamin Urban
Kellen Connor
Gavin MacDonald
Isaac Jensen
Calvin Johnson
Jack Mosser
Brady Stone
Jonathan Hines
Cooper Thompson
Cole Perkins
Willard Kull
Cole Seitz
Aidan Lynch
Max Andrews
Noah Tarring
Brady Holder
William Camp
Jasper Raymond
Shane Woloszyn
Ryan Cumiskey
Autumn Shaw
Aurora Crone
Maxwell Stewart
Maddox Ralls
Caleb Auriema
Jacob Eon
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk High grads told to take risks and 'change the world'