Class of 2009 bid farewell to their high school days and opened a new chapter in their lives.

For the seniors, there was bravado, tears, laughter and cheers as they welcomed the new opportunities and challenges that they will face in the coming weeks, months and years.

Class salutatorian Ronique Boyd told her classmates that they had reached a turning point in their lives.

“There will be many opportunities and challenges ahead of us as we continue on life’s journey,” Boyd said. “And to succeed, we must take advantage of the opportunities and meet those challenges and never give up.”

But graduation was a night to remember because “We finally did it,” said Valedictorian Candice Harvey, whose voice seemed to break from time to time as she searched for words to describe her feelings.

“I have dreamed of this day since I was a little girl and I have prepared for it but nothing could prepare me for the reality of today,” she said.

Harvey’s plan for the day included having her grandmother in the audience on the front row. But that was not God’s plan.

“And I had not planned for one of our classmates, Adam Helms, to be taken from us but Adam will always be a part of us and never forgotten,” she said and gave thanks for family members who were able to share that happy occasion with her. Harvey said the biggest challenge that she has faced was trying to figure out what to say to her classmates.

“As we embark on our separate journeys, we will have good times and bad times, good days and hard days,” she said. “But we each have great destinies to fulfill and we have the tools and strength to face and conquer any challenges that we face. “Go from here and shine like the stars that we are and always keep God first. And we’ll always stay close in heart.”

After the graduates received their diplomas, Dr. Mike Hall, principal, dismissed them with the challenge to go forward and be a positive force in the land that God has so richly blessed.