News File Photo Students smile after receiving their diploma folders during the 2022 Rogers City High School graduation ceremony.

ROGERS CITY — Encouraged to walk their own walk as they leave the hallways of Rogers City High School, 41 seniors completed their high school education with a graduation ceremony at the high school on Sunday.

“I know you’ve got mountains to climb,” Rogers City Area Schools Superintendent and Principal Nick Hein told the seniors, quoting a song by country singer TIm McGraw. “But always stay humble and kind.”

He exhorted the students to take responsibility for their decisions as they leave high school — and, whenever possible, to choose positivity and forgiveness.

Board of Education President Gregory Zurakowski reminded the seniors that, however joyful their graduation day, their focus will soon shift toward the life ahead, one which students must build themselves.

“Make it your own,” he urged.

Memories of squeaking on recorders at their fifth-grade graduation far behind them, the class of 2022 now separate to follow their unique dreams, said Brady Myers, class salutatorian.

The students’ separate paths “will all lead to the same destination — success,” Myers told his classmates.

He encouraged his fellow graduating seniors to ignore voices that declare young people incapable of great things.

“Let’s show the world what we’re made of,” Myers said.

Valedictorian Ethan Grulke said that, while the world calls the high school years the best time of life, better days are still to come.

Prioritize relationships even over grades, he told the school’s underclassmen, urging the seniors to take risks and find adventure as they leave high school.

“This is your life to take ahold of,” he said.

Handshakes and handing over of diploma folders followed the speeches, punctuated by an occasional whoop or holler.

“Turn your tassels,” class president Ryleigh Talaske told her classmates at ceremony’s end, “’cause we just graduated high school.”