Tassels turned, photos snapped, grads exhorted to follow their dreams

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Thousands of well-wishers from every corner of the state turned out Saturday for graduation ceremonies at every institution in the University of Maine System as well as several private colleges.

Photos were snapped, tassels turned and mortarboards tossed at commencements from Fort Kent to Machias to Orono to Farmington to Portland.

University of Maine at Fort Kent

A 1967 graduate of the University of Maine at Fort Kent urged the 301 graduates to put to good use the education they received but to also make time for family, friends and the people who helped them along the way.

The northernmost UMS campus conferred 267 bachelor’s and 38 associate degrees to the largest class in the campus’ 125-year history.

Graduates were from various states and Canadian provinces as well as such countries as Lithuania and Portugal. Flags from each nation were borne in the commencement processional.

Norman L. Fournier of Wallagrass, who has served Aroostook County in scores of public roles over the past 40 years, was awarded an honorary degree.

Fournier has served as executive director of the Aroostook County Action Program and its Head Start programs, associate administrator of Fort Kent’s Northern Maine Medical Center and executive director of the Fish River Rural Health Organization.

“March to your own drum and try for the impossible,” Fournier told the graduates.

Fournier, whose dreams of acquiring a doctoral degree 40 years ago were cut short by military service in Vietnam, said the education he received at the small campus prepared him for his public life.

The small campus, he said, is an integral part of the community in northern Maine and one that has given thousands of students, many of them Franco-Americans like himself, the opportunity to receive a college education.

The son of a small potato farmer from the St. John Valley, Fournier said his family’s limited income could not have provided him with a college education had it not been for UMFK.

“Professor [Roger] Grindle sat down with me and provided encouragement and built my self-confidence by often repeating, ‘You can compete with any of them, regardless where they are from,'” Fournier told the graduates. “You know, he was right. I was able to compete. I was able to compete because of the sound foundation I received while at UMFK.” (Beurmond Banville, BDN)

Husson College

About 300 Husson College graduates received their degrees outdoors at the Winkin Sports Complex in Bangor. It was the 108th commencement ceremony for the private college best known for its business and health care programs.

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, who was awarded an honorary degree and gave the commencement address, urged students to follow their dreams and work hard to overcome obstacles.

“If you sincerely believe in your dreams,” the former millworker said, “if you sincerely believe you can make a difference in your own life and in the lives of those around you – go for it. Just go for it.”

Husson College also gave an honorary degree to John “Jack” E. Quirk Sr. A graduate of the college, Quirk started his own car dealership in 1973 at the age of 43 and built it into a successful family business and the largest dealership in the state.

The college also announced its top graduates.

Lindsay L. Neagle of Bangor was named valedictorian. She earned her bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies. She plans to attend law school.

Salutatorian Danielle M. Billings of Hampden earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She has been hired by Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. (Judy Harrison, BDN)

University of Maine at Machias

Frank Van Riper has an active career in Washington as a photographer and journalist. On Tuesday, he photographed the Queen of England on the day she dined at the White House. On Saturday, he was sharing in fanfare of a different sort.

As the commencement speaker for the University of Maine at Machias on Saturday, he told the Class of 2007 to do what he had done: Follow your dream.

“Those of you who have chosen to follow environmental or marine studies – two vitally important fields today – already know that this is a path you want to follow for the rest of your life,” he told those gathered at UMM’s Frederic A. Reynolds Center.

“Many of you from this blessed and beautiful part of the world grew up sharing the values of environmental stewardship with your family and friends,” he said. “I salute you for helping to preserve, protect and defend our natural environment. This, in many ways, is the real homeland security.”

Van Riper, a 20-year summer resident of Lubec, is connected to UMM through having exhibited his photography and taught his art over several summers. In 1998 he published “Down East Maine: A World Apart,” a coffee-table book that combines essays and photographs about Washington County.

Van Riper received a Distinguished Achievement Award on Saturday.

Alan Brooks of Whiting, executive director for 20 years of the Quoddy Regional Land Trust, was honored Saturday with a Distinguished Service Award.

Among the graduates were Zachary Alarcon of Portland and Inex Lombardo of Machias. The UMM faculty had selected them last month as the Senior Watch Award winners, chosen for their leadership, citizenship and service over their years at UMM.

Alarcon, who arrived at UMM from Missouri, moves on to graduate school at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, N.M. As an English major he finished out his school year by directing the Machias Memorial High School production of “Hamlet” earlier this month.

Lombardo, 59, is the oldest member of the class of 2007. She was a displaced worker when the Stinson plant in Lubec closed in 2001. Vowing to stay in her beloved Washington County, she spent the last several years earning her degree in behavioral science and community studies.

University of Maine at Presque Isle

When Jeffrey Kimball graduated from Wiscasset High School, he knew he wanted to go on to college. But the financial burden that inevitably comes with the experience was not one that he was quite ready to embrace or to put on his parents.

So, the 45-year-old Easton resident said Saturday, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, thinking he would stay for four years and have his education paid for after his service was over.

He stayed in the Coast Guard for 21 years, but Kimball never lost sight of his goal. After his retirement, he channeled the skills and work ethic he developed in the service and put them toward getting a college degree.

As valedictorian of this year’s graduating class at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Kimball said Saturday that he will take what he learned while attending the university and tap into it for the rest of his life.

With his wife and children in attendance in Wieden Hall Gymnasium, Kimball accepted his Bachelor of Arts degree in behavioral science during UMPI’s 98th commencement ceremony on Saturday.

The ceremony drew more than 1,000 family and friends of the 300 graduates.

Jacqueline Cesare of Millinocket was the salutatorian, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in recreation.

Gov. John Baldacci lauded the graduates for their accomplishments and pointed out the many opportunities that are available to them in the state. He told the class that having a degree from a college in Aroostook County was “extra credit” that would benefit them in the future.

“You will leave your mark on Maine and the world,” he told them. “You are destined for great things.”

Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson- who lives in Freeport and is the first Olympic gold medalist in women’s marathon- and Stephen Richard, a humanitarian who serves as executive director of the Central Aroostook Association for Retarded Citizens, received honorary degrees during the ceremony. (Jen Lynds, BDN)

University of Southern Maine

Richard Pattenaude, soon to be chancellor of the University of Maine System, told University of Southern Maine graduates Saturday that public higher education creates unimaginable opportunities.

Pattenaude, the keynote speaker at his 16th and final USM commencement, recalled growing up in a working class family in Seattle and said his parents’ desire that he go on to college led to academic achievement and a rewarding career.

“It is you, and the more than 15,000 other graduates I have congratulated on this stage, who remind me that public higher education opens doors … to opportunities we could not have imagined and to places we never knew existed,” he said.

Pattenaude, who is stepping down as USM president to become chancellor this summer, said his formula for success was, “Worked hard, did well, had fun.” He repeated those words throughout his address, prompting the nearly 1,000 graduates to take up the chant.

Commencement ceremonies were also held at the University of Maine at Augusta, which includes University College of Bangor, and the University of Maine at Farmington.