Where last year families were cordoned off into segregated squares across the football field, spectators on Sunday crowded good-naturedly in the sunshine as they waited for their favorite high school senior to parade across the field to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

Rev. Greg Zurakowski, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rogers City, told the seniors that, however far they roam after graduation, they’ll always be from a small town, where people leave their doors unlocked and trust one another.

“Like it or not, you kinda stuck with being small-town nice,” he told the students. “And that’s a pretty good thing.”

In the future, as long as they do their best, “you have my permission to tell the critics where to stick it,” the clergyman said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Seniors march onto Gilpin Field in Rogers City for the 2021 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony on Sunday.

Principal and superintendent Nicholas Hein shared with the seniors a list of 12 pledges to make as they start a new phase of life — a list borrowed, Hein said, from the television show “Dirty Jobs.”

Choose gratitude, he advised. Don’t follow passion — bring it with you. Show up early, stay late, and volunteer.

Whining and complaining are the most annoying sounds on earth — resolve to not make them, Hein told the students.

Everyone chooses who to be, Hein said, encouraging the graduating seniors to make this pledge their own: “Some people are lazy. Some sleep in. I choose to work my butt off.”

Salutatorian Lauren Andrews thanked the school staff and family members who helped the students reach graduation day.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Salutatorian Lauren Andrews speaks to her classmates at the Rogers City High School 2021 graduation ceremony at Gilpin Field on Sunday.

“All our lives, we’ve had people behind us, telling us what to do and where to go,” she told the class. “Now, it’s up to us to make our own decisions. We decide our futures. So choose to make the most of them.”

Perhaps more than any class before them, the class of 2021 learned to “improvise, adapt, and overcome,” said valedictorian Isaac Hein, quoting Clint Eastwood in the movie, “Heartbreak Ridge.”

Between virtual education, switching gears when a three-week break in March of 2020 became a months-long exile from school hallways, and wearing masks in the classroom, “we really know a thing or two about adapting,” Hein told his classmates.

Sporting mortarboards emblazoned with high hopes — “Future police officer”; “Off to serve my country”; “And so the adventure begins” — the seniors accepted their diplomas and, one by one, walked across the front of the football field bleachers.

Classmates hooted and cheered for one another with gusto, despite the heat, demanding their fellow grads pause to hold their diplomas, smile for photos, and mark the completion of a job well done.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Valedictorian Isaac Hein pauses with his diploma in the stands of Gilpin Field at the 2021 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Graduates are all smiles after receiving diplomas at the 2021 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony at Gilpin Field on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A graduate pauses to relish her newly acquired diploma at the 2021 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony at Gilpin Field on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Onlookers capture the moment at Rogers City High School’s 2021 graduation ceremony on Sunday at Gilpin Field.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Moments before receiving a diploma, a senior wipes away a proud tear at the 2021 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony at Gilpin Field on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A graduate cheers on classmates at the 2021 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony at Gilpin Field on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Graduates smile for a photo after the 2021 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony at Gilpin Field on Sunday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A graduate is engulfed by family and loved ones after the 2021 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony at Gilpin Field on Sunday.