Symbolism was at the forefront on June 16 for Edgecomb Eddy School's sixth grade graduation.

Kindergarteners and first graders gave the graduates owl pillows to reflect the departing students' wisdom; second graders' light bulbs represented the seven graduates' bright futures; and the fifth graders’ gifts included an eraser, for mistakes the graduates would learn from.

Each graduate got a pouch of stones, including a multicolored one for that student's uniqueness, guidance counselor Madeline Olney said.

The plainest, but most significant stone was from the school's playground, Olney said.

“So it's kind of like the foundation of the school is also their foundation, and they can take a little bit of Edgecomb wherever they go,” she said on-stage in the school gym.

Lenora Stone was there to see grandson John Hibbard graduate.

“I'm excited. They just grow up so fast,” Stone said before the ceremony.

Duncan Steele-Maley earned the academic excellence award; teachers said he worked at well beyond sixth-grade level, and had gotten them out of many a technological jam.

The Sara Leone Outstanding Citizenship Award went to Natalie Potter. This was one of those years when the staff was able to agree quickly on the recipient, according to Olney.

“Natalie is a really genuinely kind and sincere girl ... to peers to and adults,” Dean of Students Lisa Clarke said later. “And she’s lighthearted. She has a nice sense of humor.”

Leone’s mother Carol Leone praised the school for continuing to give out the award named in her daughter’s memory, to students who share her daughter’s qualities. Sara Leone graduated from the prior Eddy School and died in an auto accident while a student at Wiscasset High School.

“My family’s very pleased to continue to be associated with Edgecomb Eddy School,” Carol Leone said.

Potter’s father Roy Potter said he was proud that his daughter received the award.

“It feels really good, that people would recognize me,” Natalie Potter said.

In time for Monday’s ceremony, her name had been added to a commemorative plaque listing the award’s annual honorees.

The plaque also displays a poem Sara Leone wrote in 2004. It urges the reader not to hide what they feel.

“Because it’s who you are inside that counts,” Leone wrote.