When Megan Corson was writing her speech to fellow members of Wiscasset High School's Class of 2013, the friendship theme she went with led her to discuss a friend she and her classmates lost in 2009.

Gauge Barnes was 14 when he took his life. Corson's senior essay she gave graduation night June 6 didn't talk about the way he died. It touched on his return to town after years away, and the impact of the loss that followed.

Starting at Wiscasset High School was a chance to meet new people and see friends again, Corson said on the stage of school gym. “But it was even better to get the chance to reconnect with one of my friends that had moved so many years ago, Gauge Barnes.”

“We are all children in various stages of growing up, but if I have learned anything throughout my time here, it's how fragile life can be,” she continued. “In the blink of an eye life can change, and it is our job to live our lives to their fullest capacities.”

“... Nothing has been a bigger life lesson than losing one of our own classmates … I do not take the days I spent with Gauge as a sad memory, but instead, I used his memory to build something inside myself that I hope each one of us can relate to: a true sense of self.”

Corson concluded by encouraging classmates to achieve their goals, have fun along the way and be true to themselves.

In the school hallway after the ceremonies, Corson said including Barnes in her speech was not a difficult decision, at all. “There was no question,” she said. “It was important. We were all really close with him.”

Earlier, before she and her classmates marched into the gym, the room buzzed with families anticipating the milestone the teens were about to reach.

Sandy Smith was holding a bouquet of freesia, daisies and roses for granddaughter Brittany Smith.

She was graduating with honors, said grandfather Bill Smith as he beamed. Sandy Smith said she was both excited and nervous. “It's a little bit of both. It's bittersweet.”

Across the folding chairs from them, Aaron Chancellor and longtime girlfriend Crystal Wellman waited to watch his daughter MacKenzie Chancellor graduate.

He'd already told her about her graduation present a day earlier. He'll pay her first year at the University of New England. “Then probably all the other years,” he said with a laugh.

Asked for his feelings graduation night, Chancellor said, “Very proud.”

Class member Eva Walker, in her speech, acknowledged the leaving comes with some sadness.

“I will miss coming here and seeing my teachers every day … When I came here in 2010, I didn't think I would get to where I am now,” she said. “I have loved every moment of my high school career here.”

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Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com