News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Onaway Graduate Sadie Decker walks into the gymnasium at the start of the commencement ceremony at Onaway Area Community Schools on Thursday.

ONAWAY — On Thursday night, 36 seniors from Onaway High School walked the stage to complete their high school careers.

The ceremony took place in the gymnasium at the Onaway Area Community Schools building, where the graduating seniors were surrounded by their family and friends.

The students processed into the gymnasium to “Pomp and Circumstance.”

Onaway Secondary Principal Bryan Pyle gave the graduates a simple instruction: to make their beds every morning.

“The simple act of making your bed in the morning means that you’ve started the day out with an accomplishment,” he said.

Interim Superintendent Jake Huffman told graduates the three things that he believes are most important in life. The first is to find your passion.

“Please, please, find your passion,” Huffman said. “Make it your dream, make it a living.”

He also told students to find a passion that is a hobby, something they can do outside of work.

“You have to have that balance of life on both sides,” he said.

The second thing he told students was to be kind.

“What is important is making sure that we are kind to everybody and treat everybody the way we would like to be treated,” Huffman said.

His third piece of advice is to play well in the sandbox. The sandbox is the place where the students learned to build relationships and get along with their peers.

As the student speakers came to the podium to give their speeches, the close relationships between the graduates became clear. Honor student Nate Betke told his fellow graduates to find their identity and not be afraid to be themselves in his speech.

Betke spoke from personal experience as someone who felt he was different from his classmates growing up and didn’t quite fit in. As he progressed through high school, Betke found a group of friends who were also different like him.

“I have found other people who really saw me for who I was,” Betke said.

Salutatorian Ema Demaestri gave an emotional talk, thanking her classmates, friends, and family for all that they have done to support her.

Valedictorians Sadie Decker and Grace Watson also thanked their friends and family for their support over the years.

“Let’s go out and do something,” Decker said. “Let’s make the world a better place, one step at a time.”

Each graduate crossed the stage to receive their diploma. They proceeded out of the gym as the Onaway fight song played. Family, friends, and graduates gathered outdoors to take pictures as the sun began to set on the horizon.

The Onaway Class of 2025 chose hydrangeas as their class flower, ‘Endings are beginnings in disguise’ as their motto, and “Good Old Days” by Macklemore as their class song.