Orono honors Class of 2021 in outdoors graduation

ORONO, Maine — Orono High School graduated 74 seniors during an outdoors ceremony Sunday, June 13, on the school’s athletic fields.

It was the first graduation held outside for the school in quite a few years, Principal Reg Ruhlin said. For Ruhlin, this graduation was special, not only was it his last as principal, but later that day his own daughter was graduating, he said. 

“My oldest daughter — Kate — she graduates at four o’clock this afternoon and I can’t believe that in about six hours from now I’ll be sitting in the crowd as a parent of a graduating senior,” Ruhlin said to the crowd of family members. “I’m one of you.” 

Holding back tears, Ruhlin said these types of events mark the end of one part of a child’s life and opens the door to the next part, but it’s okay to feel sad that this time is ending. 

But, most important to Ruhlin on Sunday was to not focus on COVID-19, he said. 

“Today is not about listing all the difficulties we’ve all faced. While it’s a tragedy — a global tragedy — we’re here to celebrate,” he said. 

The global pandemic has affected and shaped the Class of 2021 in special ways, showing their resilience. 

Student speaker Anna Drinkert said walking into her first day of high school she expected it to be something out of a movie, but that wasn’t that case. 

“We were hit by a bus,” she said. A great big, honking, diesel sucking bus going 70 on the highway. And it flattened us.” 

The last four years have been difficult, academically and emotionally, but the movies don’t show you that, Drinkert said. But going into sophomore and junior year, Drinkert and other students started getting a hang of things, but then COVID-19 hit. 

But, she and her classmates got through it, and if they can get through that, they can get through anything, she said. 

“Even with everything going on, and everything we had to deal with, we kept our sense of humor,” Drinkert said. “If we’re able to make a few laughs when the rest of the world is crying, we’re going to be a bright light wherever we go.” 

Liam Ferrell, the other student speaker at the event, opened up his speech by pulling out his phone to get a selfie with the crowd. 

“Yeah so Anna [Drinkert] and I had a competition I forgot to tell her about — who can take the best graduation selfie,” he said, pulling out his phone to snap a picture with the crowd. “So I guess I win by default.” 

In his speech, Ferrell congratulated his classmates on surviving the last four years and described his class as one full of emotion.  

“Here we are at the doorsteps of the real world,” he said. “We all start somewhere, and we’ve certainly used what we had available.” 

Ferrell urged his classmates to find something they’re passionate about and to pursue it as far as it will go. 

“Today we leave the person we were to search for the person we will become,” he said. “I encourage you all to find your passion, pursue it relentlessly and tell us how it goes in 10 years.” 

ORONO, Maine — (June 13, 2021) Graduates wait to March to their seats for the Orono High School Class of 2021 graduation in Orono, June 13, 2021.