The Kearsarge Regional High School Class of 2009 had to contend with two floods, Budweiser brand canned water, a swine flu scare, and a deer that apparently roamed the halls. They saw transitions to a new high school principal and a new district superintendent.

But yesterday they graduated wiser for their travails.

"No matter what this place has thrown at us, we've marched on," said Class President Garrett Sanborn, as he recounted the strange and memorable touchstones that marked the class's progress through high school.

Yesterday's ceremony proceeded under cloudy skies-but the rain held off just long enough. School and district officials handed off 170 diplomas to the smiling seniors.

Abigail Franklin, one of two co-valedictorians, who delivered their speeches together, suggested her classmates keep smiling, remembering their many happy times at the high school and the relationships that helped them get through.

"Wherever I find myself going, I'm taking all of you with me, and I'll still be smiling," she said.

Franklin and Jeffery Wilson, the second valedictorian, drew some smiles from the audience too with their alternating routine. Wilson described the presentation as "slightly unconventional," and as the two traded off portions of their speech, the podium's microphone squeaked as it was adjusted back and forth. At one point, Franklin suggested the whole operation would be easier if the pair's height matched as well as their grades had.

"It's too bad I'm so short," she joked.

Wilson recalled several memorable experiences from his high school years - some hiccups like natural disasters, some big characters from his class, and some group experiences, like class trips and sports victories. Those moments, serious and comic, were as important as his education in the classroom, he said.

"The most important thing I learned was that bits of knowledge like that will bind us together," he said.

Principal Jay Lewis asked students to cheer their families. He also announced the retirements of three veteran teachers - Wesley Cook, Gregory Bruss and Joanne Tulonen - who drew standing ovations.

The speeches were separated by the performances by the school's choir, which included arrangements of the Beatles' "My Life" and Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance."