Camden’s Community School bestowed diplomas on six students Friday evening, May 24, in a graduation ceremony at High Mountain Hall. The group of six are the first of 30 students the Community School at Camden and Opportunity Farm will graduate this year. A rainy march from the school at 79 Washington Street through downtown Camden and up to 5 Mountain Street did little to dampen the mood of the graduates, or the importance of the evening.

The Class of 2013 included Katrina Berry, of Lewiston; Peyton Elise Feener, of Camden; Sasha Leppanen, of Portland; Steven Neill Mackenzie, of Gray; Corey Julius Phillips, of Lewiston; and Damion Scott Saucier, of Belfast.

The graduation was marked by a pre-ceremony celebration at the school and the parade to High Mountain Hall. The ceremony followed with a welcome to the family and guests in attendance and presentation of the graduating class by Residential Program Director Joseph Hufnagel.

A slide show recapped the students' past year at the school and delivered funny and tender moments. The presentation of diplomas was followed by an open mic period where the students and those in the audience could comment about achievements and pride in the students. Closing remarks were made by the Community School and Opportunity Farm Board Chairman Fred Williams.

Gordon Phillips, of Everett, Mass., drove up to watch his son, Corey, graduate.

“I’m glad that this program has helped to make him what he is,” said Phillips. “I’m very proud of him. I would like to see him go on and pursue his education, maintain this good positive path. I’m going to do my best to keep him on that path and I’d like to see him keep in contact with all the people he met here. I’d like to be more positive for him.”

Williams was attending his first graduation for the Community School.

“I love every single one of them,” said Williams. “This year, we’re going to graduate 30 kids, which is a record for us. Two residential programs and a Passages program, so we have a graduation this Friday in Camden, next Friday in New Gloucester at Opportunity Farm, and then back here the 15th of June for the Passages Program. And every single one of them is a special person.”

Williams said it is the strength students get from the community that will be really important.

“An opportunity is what I want to see for these kids," he said. "It’s something they probably haven’t gotten in the past, I think that’s incredibly important for them. They make their own future, but they’ve been given an opportunity.”