Staff Writer

 The Biddeford High School class of 2011 was celebrated Sunday as a group of students who worked hard and had fun doing it.

Despite rain that forced their ceremony into the Tiger Gymnasium, the school’s 222 graduates were all smiles as they accepted diplomas to the cheers of family and friends.

Before the ceremony, Justina Adams and Eric Huot stood together in the crowded hallway where graduates gathered to line up together for the last time. Both Adam and Huot plan to attend the University of Maine next year.

“I’m excited and kind of sad,” Adams said. “We won’t see our classmates again, but college will be fun.”

Megan Crepeau, who will study marketing at Bryant University, said she was “excited and nervous all at the same time.” She said her class will be remembered as an energetic group that enjoyed pulling pranks on people.

“I feel like we’re the fun class, the class that will definitely be missed,” said Laura Letellier, senior class secretary. “It’s not going to be the same without us.”

Class President Noah Berube said he looked at graduation day with a mix of relief and sadness.

“We’ve been waiting for this day to come for a long time,” he said.

While she welcomed everyone to the ceremony, Letellier led her classmates in a round of applause for their parents. She challenged her fellow graduates to “dream as if you have no limitations.”

Student Council President Joseph Drew said his classmates worked hard to graduate with the support of “amazing parents and amazing teachers.”

Berube, the class president, said his class enjoyed every second of high school and made “fun times out of nothing.”

“As we leave, we know our class will never truly disappear. We have way too many memories,” he said.

Class historians Amethyst Hersom and Keila Grigware said graduates spent 35,040 hours in high school and the number of “memories crammed in” was “mind-blowing.” They described their arrival at the school as a group of “mischievous minds coming together to conquer the walls of BHS.”

“We bleed black and orange and we always will,” Hersom said.

Salutatorian Mireille Beaudoin reflected on the support of parents, teachers and classmates in her address. Valedictorian Hilary Lariviere urged classmates to “make sure your words and actions don’t affect the world in a negative way.”

Principal Britton Wolfe said the class of 2011 “showed the community and the world what Tiger Pride is really about.”

“Seeing you up here inspires us to recommit to being the best we can be,” he said.

During the ceremony, Wolfe presented an honorary diploma to Rick Bineau, a member of the class of 1986 who was paralyzed from the neck down in an ATV accident. Bineau was unable to complete high school after the accident but never let go of his dream of graduating, said his mother, Lucille Bineau.