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FARMINGTON – Principal Monique Poulin assured the hundreds of family and friends attending graduation today that Mt. Blue High School helped raise good human beings ready for their next step in life.
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“There are 180 graduates who took such different paths to get here and will take 180 different pathways from here,” Poulin said. She wished the sea of blue and gold caps and gowns seated before her every “success and to be plain old happy. I’m incredibly proud of you,” she said.
In the student-led ceremony, as is the tradition at Mt. Blue’s graduations, class speakers told their classmates to not be afraid to be great, to thank everyone who helped along the way, to remember the importance of friendship and that success is what each person decides what it is.
A variety of talented musical performances punctuated the program and, at the end, parents, with cameras blinking, stood at the end of the stage ramps to capture their smiling graduates with diplomas in hand.
This year, the Mt. Blue graduating class receiving diplomas included 86-year-old Lawrence “Rusty” Lee of Weld. With his fellow graduates standing and applauding him, Lee, escorted by his great, great niece Chelsea Hutchinson, grinned as he walked down the aisle toward the diploma he had never been able to hold until today.
Lee was scheduled to graduate in 1944 from the Weld School but was instead drafted out of high school into the U.S. Army. He fought with the 34th Division in France and Italy. He was wounded several times, the worst being on July 4, 1944 with a severe head wound that left him with hearing in only one ear and earned him two Purple Hearts.
He was discharged in November 1945, married Donna Wagner in 1950 and worked as mechanic at his garage in Weld until it was lost to fire. Before retiring in 1989, he worked for Moore Oil, now Farmington Oil, and continues to reside in Weld.
In her speech’s final bit of advice, Amanda Hall told her class, “So just go where the road takes you and enjoy your trip.”
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Congratulations class of 2010!