Graduates laughed and straightened their tassels in a school hallway before a staff member ushered them into the gym for the school’s 2021 graduation ceremony, telling the students to enjoy their moment.

Principal Marty Mix congratulated the graduating seniors on pushing past unprecedented difficulties as they fought their way toward their mortarboards and tassels.

The experience prepared them for their lives to come, he said.

“Life is tough,” Mix said.” “Remember, when it gets tough, you’ve faced some of the toughest times ever.”

News Photo by Julie Riddle Seniors recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the 2021 Onaway High School graduation ceremony at the school on Sunday.

With a final reminder to “always be kind,” the principal made way for school superintendent Rod Fullerton, who encouraged the seniors to seek out challenges to help them change for the better.

“Some challenges we don’t choose,” Fullerton told the students, acknowledging the hurdles the class has faced in the past year. “”We learn from those, too.”

Honor student Keegan Hart, saying he would leave stirring speeches to the two students to speak after him, instead sang to his classmates an a capella rendition of in Irish song with the lyrics, “Come lift up your voices, all grief to refrain; For we may or might never all meet here again.”

Salutatorian Elliana Prow spoke of the lunches with her mom and teases of her family members that she’ll miss as she moves to the next stage of life. Jazmyn Friant, valedictorian of the Class of 2021, gave credit to the people who helped the seniors on their way to graduation day.

“I hope you always pursue your biggest dreams,” Friant told her classmates, “and no one ever gets in your way.”

News Photo by Julie Riddle Valedictorian Jazmyn Friant smiles during a speech as she thanks her parents at Onaway High School’s 2021 graduation ceremony in the school gym on Sunday.

After delivering flowers to loved ones in the packed bleachers of the school’s gym and accepting their diplomas one-by-one, the graduates turned their tassels and were ushered out of the gym to the strains of the school fight song. On the front lawn, confetti rained onto black gowns, parents hugged grinning grads, and 45 mortorboards were tossed into a blue graduation-day sky.

News Photo by Julie Riddle
Graduates smile for photos on the school lawn after a graduation ceremony at Onaway High School in Onaway on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Seniors await their diplomas at the 2021 Onaway High School graduation ceremony in the school gym on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Graduate Lauren Michele Northrop displays her newly acquired diploma at the 2021 Onaway High School graduation ceremony at the school on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle An Onaway High School graduate smiles through confetti on the lawn of the school, shortly after the school’s 2021 graduation ceremony on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Graduates smile for photos on the school lawn after a graduation ceremony at Onaway High School in Onaway on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Graduates smile for photos on the school lawn after a graduation ceremony at Onaway High School in Onaway on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Graduates smile for photos on the school lawn after a graduation ceremony at Onaway High School in Onaway on Sunday.