News Photo by Alyssa Ochss Administrators and teachers help and congratulate students as they walk across the stage.

ALPENA — Alpena High School graduated 223 seniors on Sunday at Wildcat Stadium.

The graduating seniors walked into the beat of Pomp and Circumstance before taking their seats on the field.

One of the members of the Senior Planning Team put together a collage of pictures and videos from the graduates’ time at Alpena High School. It was shown during the ceremony prompting laughs and a few tears. The class song by Macklemore played over the presentation as well as a song by Taylor Swift.

The quote for this year’s graduating seniors is by Winnie the Pooh and it’s “We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.”

Family members and graduates listened to speeches by administrators, their fellow graduates, and teachers. The two graduates were Sawyer Haugerud and Jason Smolinski.

“We may not have always gotten along and we have definitely been through some tough times together as a class,” Haugerud said. “But one thing that has always remained a constant is that we have always had fun.”

Smolinski started off with a joke before proceeding with his speech.

“We shouldn’t go through this next chapter of our lives filled with worry and anxiousness for the future,” Smolinski said. “We will all have unsure feelings about becoming adults and some points in our lives but we need to embrace it. There’s a whole new chapter to be written for all of us and the most exciting part is that we are our own authors.”

Teacher Laura Dubey also spoke.

“You guys all know that hard work does pay off,” Dubey said. “Graduates no matter how you arrived here it has taken discipline and support, family support, support from all your fellow students, the community and the school staff.”

Dubey as well as a few administrators recognized the Class of 2022’s resilience in getting through the COVID-19 pandemic.