LEWISTON — Wrapping their speeches around the theme “school supplies,” the top five students in Edward Little High School’s graduating class went for sentiment, surprise and laughs Saturday night.

“Embrace the permanence of the pen and trust in your decisions,” Valedictorian Max Nyholm said.

“Highlight the people in your life and your memories,” Danielle Gagne said, wiping back tears while she read her fifth honor speech.

“Paper helps the budding mind to vomit forth its wonderful contents,” Tynan Collins said in a fourth honor speech he called, “Oh, Sheet!”

The Androscoggin Bank Colisee was packed with cheering family members and friends as more than 220 seniors accepted their diplomas on the stage, wearing maroon robes and white sashes.

The students served as their own keynote speakers. Salutatorian Allyson Hammond talked about the fear of being judged and leaving behind the negative to focus on the happy.

Third honor speaker Jordan Lau told her classmates for the first time that she was deaf and thanked them for being part of the glue that’s held her together.

Senior Alison LaVerdiere sang several pieces, including the national anthem, to huge applause.

Superintendent Katy Grondin told the soon-to-be graduates that they’d been given the gift of time.

“For the past 13 years, you’ve been rehearsing for what comes next,” she said.

Principal Jim Miller told students, “I wish I could be you.

“No limits, no bounds, no drawbacks, a clean slate to do whatever you want to do,” he said. “I wish I could have the opportunity to experience what you will experience. What the world is going to present to you is going to be amazing.

“I’ve seen the last four years the amazing things you’ve done and I can only imagine what will be in your future,” Miller said. 

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