Hello Teachers, Peers, Family, and Friends: welcome to the Boothbay Region High School Class of 2023 Graduation.  

Exactly 121 days ago, I downloaded an app on my phone that would countdown the number of days left until graduation. Every so often, I would give people updates on this number as it slowly got closer. Well, I had a list of people who refused to let me tell them, so I wouldn’t……Rachel.  My excitement about graduation slowly faded when I hit the 30s. A month. A little more than a month and I would have to move on to the next chapter of my life. I was excited but scared. I’d been accepted into college, and I’d gone to admitted students day, but it hadn’t really set in that I wasn’t going to leave in this comfortable normality I’d fallen into this year.

I’ve gone to the Boothbay Region Schools since Kindergarten. Many of the people I am graduating with today can also say that. Others have come from the Edgecomb Eddy School and others have joined us along the way. We all have different backgrounds, but there is one thing we all have in common: we are all Seahawks. We all have persevered through four years of high school that were all different, with a variety of different hurdles to jump each year. But despite all that, we’re here today, sitting on this stage, about to graduate and move on to the next chapter of our lives. 

Our peers have been an integral part of our school years. When we came into the school as confused Freshmen, we didn’t know the roller coaster of the four years we were about to endure. We worked together our Freshman year to win the online Seahawk Spirit Competition. We stood by each other during the scramble to fundraise our prom in our Junior year. We kept the morale up during this year’s Winter Carnival- turned-Spring Fling when our class was absolutely decimated by the Juniors at the pep rally. We have always been together and have helped each other through the ups and downs and I’m so thankful to be able to graduate alongside this group of people. 

We didn’t get here today all on our own. Our teachers have persevered through these insane four years, giving us a valuable education despite a global pandemic and other setbacks. They taught online in zoom meetings where only two out of the twenty people would have their cameras on, they read our essays and coached us to become better rhetorics, and they encouraged us to pursue careers we were passionate about and to make the world a better place. To all these people who have helped us, I want to give you all a huge thank you. You are all superheroes. 

Our family has also been by us all our lives, shaping us to how we are today and imparting their lessons and wisdom to us. My family is an important part of my life and has shaped me to be who I am today. My Papa always offers  me a helping hand and inspires  me to be the best I can be by leading by example through his work and caring attitude. My Nani is always supportive and has watched every YouTube video that has been published about Bowdoin to help my journey into college life. My sister is always there to crack a joke and has always been there by my side. My mom has greatly helped me through these four years both as both a mother and as a principal. One thing that she has always told my sister and I throughout our lives is that “Campbell girls don’t give up.” I’ve applied this to my everyday life and have never backed down in the face of adversity.

I stand before you as a legacy student of the Boothbay Region High School. My father was a member of the class of 1991 and my Nana was salutatorian of the BRHS class of 1958, the second graduating class of this school. My Nana taught me about bead making, crocheting, collages, and many other art forms and has always encouraged me to pursue my passions. My dad shared music with me, from the playlists he’d burn onto CDs and play in his truck to a mix of songs he’d play while he was in the kitchen cooking. He has greatly inspired me to always be true to myself and to stick up for what I believe in. One of his many lessons is the importance of music. He has often told me about how my Nana would play The Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album on their record player and how those songs hold a special meaning to him.

It wasn’t until my Freshman year that I really got into the Beatles. I would sneak an earbud into math class when doing some work (Sorry, Mr. Crocker!) I created a playlist with all the Beatles albums and would shuffle that, discovering new music as I figured out math equations that had way too many letters in them.

One song that stands out in particular to me, “In My Life” from the Rubber Soul Album, which was one of the first I bought on vinyl. For those of you who have heard the song, you know that it’s a song about reflecting on the past and change. The song had a vastly different meaning to me then. Then, it was a hauntingly beautiful song of loss and acceptance, but, if anyone has taken a Mr. Gorey class, you know he always reads a poem du jour. Well, this isn’t a poem, but I want to recite the chorus of the song: “Though I know I’ll never lose affection/ For people and things that went before/ I know I’ll often stop and think about them/ In my life, I love you more.” Now, Mr. Gorey would probably dive deeper into the poem—or song—and talk more about its meaning, form, and different uses of literary devices, but I’m not going to subject you to that.

As I read these lines today, I can’t help but think of those who have helped us along the way to get to where we are today. What the chorus of The Beatles’ “In My Life” means to me now is that though we’re all moving on in different directions, we will always have a shared history as people from the Boothbay Region, as the Class of 2023, and as Seahawks. I’m going to greatly miss the Seahawk family here at BRHS. The teachers who have helped prepare us for the next chapter, the mentors from the community, and my friends. I’ll miss yelling until my voice is hoarse at basketball games, belting Newsies songs before opening nights in theater productions, and getting way too competitive about placing in Personal Finance kahoots. We’ve all certainly made lasting memories during our time here at BRHS and I’m so proud to be graduating with this group of wonderful people. I know you will all go on to do great things.

Now, today we stand here ready to get our diplomas and move on to the next chapter of our lives. My counter has hit zero. To my class, I want to congratulate you all on your accomplishments and I want to once again tell you all, that “Though I know I’ll never lose affection/ For people and things that went before/ I know I’ll often stop and think about them/ In my life, I love you more.”