Words of encouragement for both past achievements and future plans were given to the Wells College graduating class during the 2008 commencement ceremony Saturday.

Hundreds of friends and relatives filled the backyard of the Aurora Inn overlooking Cayuga Lake to witness the occasion.

"This is a very special graduation ceremony for us this year," said Kelly Tehan, Wells College director of publications and media relations. "We are all just so proud of all of the graduates."

What made the ceremony just a little more special was that the eldest daughter of 13-year Wells College president Lisa Marsh Ryerson, Annie Ryerson, was among the graduating class.

Lisa Marsh Ryerson, class of 1981, is the first alumna president that the college has had in its 140 year history.

Also in attendance for the ceremony was Frances "Sissy" Tarlton, the first female president of Wells College, as well as Annie Ryerson's step-grandmother.

"As these students prepare to graduate from Wells College there is a sense that anything is possible," said Wells trustee and commencement speaker Gail Leftwich Kitch. "To me that is what commencement is - starting out on a wonderful experience with no idea where it will lead, yet knowing that one is prepared to face whatever comes thanks to the confidence and knowledge you have gained at Wells. Anything is possible."

Wells graduate Nadirah Blassingame, an international studies major, said that her future plans are to work abroad within the international health-care field. But first she will return to her hometown in the Thousand Islands region to work as a freelance reporter for a local newspaper.

Read the full report in Sunday's edition of The Citizen.