HAMPDEN – Courtney Reeves and Juliana Aurie are willing to make a deal with Mother Nature: She can drench the state during their precious April vacation so long as she brings out the sun for graduation on June 10.

The Hampden Academy seniors worked for more than a year to organize and raise about $8,000 to fund an outdoor graduation, and this week the students reached their goal.

The ceremony details have been thoroughly worked out. Now the weather remains the only variable.

“Mrs. Yehle [school principal] said she’s going to go out and buy a Farmer’s Almanac. We’re getting anxious,” Reeves said

As the two seniors sat through the insufferable heat of last year’s indoor graduation, they feared the school’s gymnasium would not hold all of their relatives. Then, when 2006 graduation photos were developed and the poorly lit gymnasium created a yellow tint in every frame, they vowed to have better conditions for their own ceremony.

The two seniors proposed an outdoor graduation on the multipurpose turf field behind the George B. Weatherbee School and Earl C. McGraw School complex.

Between private donations and fundraising, the seniors have brought in around $3,800. The Hampden Town Council offered to match each dollar they raised, up to $3,000, and the SAD 22 board of directors recently allocated $1,500 for the alternative graduation. The approximate total of $8,300 surpasses the estimated graduation costs, but the friends’ intensity has not diminished.

“It’s pure bliss to say we have reached our goal,” Aurie said. “But it would be more gratifying to reach it all on our own.”

While the two seniors greatly appreciated the support from the council and the board, they still have two fundraisers planned and may try to return some of the excess taxpayer money allocated. The senior class will serve a spaghetti dinner at the end of April, and in May, the two hope to organize a golf tournament. But, once again, Mother Nature must cooperate.

“It’s amazing how community members have been donating,” Aurie said. “It has been so encouraging to have such an outpouring of support.”

The young women said they were shocked by the support, especially since they began fundraising at almost the same time a beloved teacher was involved in a sledding accident. Andy Frace, a psychology and sociology teacher at Hampden Academy, broke multiple bones, including his pelvis, when sliding down Essex Street hill in Bangor.

“We just felt so selfish raising money for an outdoor graduation, when he had all these medical bills,” Aurie said, as her eyes brimmed with tears.

But, when the two visited Frace in the hospital in January, he demanded a status report on the ceremony. He also reminded them of last year’s uncomfortable conditions.

“I think he said he had to leave early last year because of the heat,” Reeves said.

So, Reeves and Aurie continued to plan their dream graduation, but while raising funds for the ceremony they also took up a collection for the Frace family.

“Mr. Frace said he would crutch his way there, if he can,” Aurie said.

“I have a feeling everything will work out. Things have come together so far, now we just need sun.”