Seniors at Oak Hill High School in Wales enter their graduation ceremony Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center. Courtesy of Dave Maher Photos

Oak Hill High School in Wales held its 2023 graduation ceremony Saturday, presenting 83 students with diplomas.

The ceremony at the Augusta Civic Center featured two speakers — Alexis Spencer and Avery MacKenzie — and school Principal Marco E. Aliberti.

In his speech, Aliberti recalled being asked an unexpected question during a lunchtime: “What’s the most you’ve ever benched?” He conceded it was probably 20 years earlier he had lifted any significant amount of weight. Aliberti said students across the lunchroom continued to ask him the question in jest as he made the rounds.

“I had to laugh because my younger self would have given whomever the authority figure was a bunch of grief, too,” Aliberti said in his speech. “So much for connecting with kids. The situation resonated with me thinking about the gift of youth.

“Youth is not merely a stage of life characterized by abundance of energy. It is a mindset, a perspective and a force that has the power to shape the world — a force that can cause you to gently rib your high school principal and, frankly, make his day.”

Oak Hill is the high school for students in Regional School Unit 4, which includes Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales.