There were 38 students to graduate from the 2017 class at Marion High School Friday Night.

Class President Emily Sawall reminisced on how quickly time has flown by.

“One score minus six years ago, we started 4K and in a blink of an eye, we are here graduating high school, beginning a new chapter in our lives,” she said.

There were many things to be proud of, Salutatorian Camile Radies told her fellow seniors, but she argues that respectfulness is something that their class was able to leave at Marion

“I believe respect for others and respect shown to our teachers is one of the things that will definitely stick when we’re gone,” she said in her commencement address. “The little things, like saying hello when you see them in the hall, holding the door for them, asking if they need help with anything, respecting them enough to ask for letters of references, simply just being respectful in the class during the lesson and work time, or showing respect for your peers and yourself. Those are the things I believe teachers remember most about their students. After all, they say respect is earned, not given.”

Class valedictorian Delaney Greene-Gretzinger urged her classmates to take advantage of opportunities that will be presented in the near future and that while they should feel confident that Marion has prepared them, it’s up to yourself to make a difference.

“Life right now can be confusing and hard as we take the next step to find ourselves, but I trust in all of us that we are capable of anything as long as we put our mind to it,” she assured her classmates. “Be who you really are, not just who you want to be. Your mind is a wonderful thing, use it to help people, to make a difference, to change lives. From this point on, you will be faced with countless opportunities, as well as challenges to overcome and sacrifices to make. I believe that here at Marion we have deep life skills to help us deal with a lot of these things, but there are still so many things we have yet to learn or expereince in life and many of those things will be unpreparable.”

Other sites and sounds from graduation night in Marion included a rendition of various Disney songs from the high school band, along with a performance of the senior song by the senior band members, which was entitled “Mambo Number Five” by Lou Bega.