Dan Demeritt, a former LePage staffer, is hired to a new $125,000-a-year position amid the system’s financial crisis.

Keynote speaker and English teacher Ian Wilson reminded the students to thank those who have helped them as they write their life stories.

The Oakland high school seniors are a tight-knit bunch who ‘are surrounded by people who love you most.”

The schools are the latest in program funded by a Read Across America $10,000 grant that is bringing books to first-graders across the state.