POPLAR RIDGE - Pipers piped in the 80 graduates of the Class of 2008 at Southern Cayuga High School auditorium Saturday afternoon to begin the district's 44th commencement exercise.

White-robed girls mixed in with crimson-robed boys as the graduates stepped down the aisles behind two bagpipers to their seats.

“What a grand entrance for a celebration,” high school principal Luke Carnicelli said, welcoming the guests and recognizing school personnel.

Evan Bassett led the pledge of allegiance and gave the senior welcoming address. He recalled Stonewall Jackson's remarks, illustrating the most important lesson learned at Southern Cayuga: “You may be whatever you resolve to be.”

“All of us control our own minds,” Bassett said. “Everyone has the ability to think, decide, and to reach his goal. Doing work will get you the goal and not doing the work will not. ... Believe in the power of your own will.”

“It is up to us to succeed,” Vienna Farlow told her fellow seniors.

“There's a good chance the school will implode when we walk out today,” she said, noting that there were many graduates with 20 or more college credits already earned and one with 36.

Anna Slocum told the class she had been in 18 school plays but none as interesting as the one we play in every day of our lives. She divided the class experience into three acts corresponding to elementary, middle school, and high school experiences.

“It's sad to think that we will be separated this fall,” she said, and began weeping. She spoke of Cindy Sharshon, an audio-visual aide who lost her battle with cancer in November 2007. Sharshon was also a National Honor Society advisor.

“She will always be remembered in our hearts and memories,” Slocum said.

Principal Carnicelli said, “You owe it to yourself to make your days count. May your wildest dreams become reality.”

District superintendent Mary Kay Worth told of a card that a teacher in a former school gave her, showing mutual caring and respect.

“The card said, 'I wanted to give back to you what you have given me over the past year.'” In the gift was a rock for staying grounded, a candle for enlightenment and a mirror for reflection.

“Are you proud of your reflection, inside and out?” she asked the class.

Theodore Rejman, president of the board of education, compared the class's school days with the “Little Engine that Could.”

“We don't all go in the same direction, but we are all headed the same place,” he said. “You have one life. Make the best of it.”

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be contacted at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net