Charles Henderson High School held its 53rd commencement exercises Tuesday night, where 123 Trojans received their diplomas at Sartain Hall on Troy University’s campus.

“We’ve all waited so long for this,” Charles Henderson graduate Amber Arrington said. “It means a lot and it’s something that we’ve all always wished for and now it’s happening. I’m looking forward to college and I’m going to miss everyone. I can’t wait to see everyone again in 10 years.”

Waiting in the basement of Sartain Hall before they walked to their seats, the seniors had one last opportunity to be together as a group and the excitement was clear.

“The most exciting part is being able to come together with my classmates one last time,” Trojan graduate Joe Bradley said. “You can feel the togetherness between everyone tonight it’s a very exciting time.”

After reflections from the senior class and some special music during the graduation ceremony, the Class of 2012 welcomed Valedictorian Anna Orlofsky and Salutatorian Mary Wasden for their closing addresses.

Wasden used her time at the podium to remind her fellow graduates that everyone only gets one life, using Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” as an example, while Orlofsky compared graduation to the final piece of the puzzle with the united Class of 2012 as the complete picture.

“This class was my first one, and with every first there is something special,” Charles Henderson Principal Boyd English said. “They have definitely left their mark. I wanted them to have a slogan that fit them and they chose, ‘The class of one-two will always be true to the orange and blue.’ They’ve always represented themselves, the school and their family well and they’ll continue to so.”