“Carry yourselves with pride.”

Those were jail administrator Mark Westrum’s words of advice and praise given on Friday to the graduating class of seven new correctional officers at Two Bridges Regional Jail.

With families and friends watching and applauding, Westrum congratulated the new officers for their high marks on the test that ended their five weeks of training. The group from Two Bridges Regional Jail scored the highest average of any of the county jails, completing the tests with a class average of 94.4 out of a possible 100.

Stating that a corrections officer’s job is the hardest job in public safety, Westrum explained that other public safety officers can expect other officers to be there with them, but a corrections officer could be alone in a pod of as many as 72 inmates.

“No one does more to ensure that our families and neighbors live without fear than those of us in public safety,” he reminded the graduates. “We all work to protect the public from those who would harm our communities.”

Clerk of the Lincoln and Sagadahoc Multicounty Jail Authority, Katherine Martin-Savage administered the oath to the graduates. The seven new correctional officers are: A. Boudreau, M. Brown, M. Clarke, J. Eastman, J. Fisher, B. Johnson and N. Merry.

A video showing the new officers experiencing pepper spray, defensive tactics, vehicle and cell extractions during the course of their training was shown at the end of the graduation ceremony.