LIVERMORE FALLS — Principal TJ Plourde told the Spruce Mountain High School class of 2023 that graduation marks a new beginning.

“Your next chapter starts today,” he said Sunday afternoon at Griffin Field. “Be passionate with your aspirations. Be compassionate with your family and friends. Find humor in all things.”

Valedictorian Emma Towers and her brother and salutatorian, Lucas Towers, then shared their thoughts. Emma Towers thanked everyone at the school district who “pushed us to great lengths in order to get here.”

“You have believed in us since the minute we walked through the scary high school doors as incoming freshmen,” she said.

Valedictorian Emma Towers, center, and her brother, salutatorian Lucas Towers, left, during the Spruce Mountain High School graduation ceremony Sunday in Livermore Falls. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Lucas Towers spoke of the seniors’ similarities and differences.

“Garrett Hunt being 9.5 pounds at birth, to Emma being 1.14, we are all different,” he said. “But despite our differences in styles, personalities and interests, we have always been able to come together.”

This is the last graduating class at Spruce Mountain that attended different elementary schools, Lucas Towers said. Looking forward, he said, nobody cares whether a student belongs to Jay or Livermore.

The Towers siblings offered further advice to the other graduates:

Never forget special moments shared and the relationships made throughout the years, Emma said.

“Remember to let things happen,” she said. “Celebrate your successes and accomplishments, and build off your failures and doubts. Success doesn’t come without failure, and sometimes failing is what we need to keep us grounded.”

The Spruce Mountain High School class of 2023 stands Sunday for the playing of The Star-Spangled Banner during the school’s graduation ceremony in Livermore Falls. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Laugh at the funny memories and learn from the hard ones, Lucas added.

“Remember the people who had an impact on you,” he said, “and made you a better person.”

In his speech, Daniel Wilson, the class president, also noted how graduation marks a conclusion and a beginning.

“Your high school career may be over, but life is far from it,” Wilson said. “We are more adults than we were yesterday. We have spent the last four years preparing for today, preparing for a changing time, and I couldn’t be more proud of the people that my peers and I have become.”