HAZLETON - With a blue summer sky over head and a light breeze rustling the red, white and blue American flags that lined the processional walkway, 751 members of the senior class became Hazleton Area High School alumni Friday evening at the school district's 21st annual commencement.
Prior to the start of the 6 p.m. ceremony, as the prospective graduates and their families and friends gathered in the high school's main parking lot, district administrators huddled in the office of Principal Rocco Petrone, monitoring updates to the weather forecast.
"It's a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful setting but we're at the mercy of the weather," Petrone said at 5 p.m. - about one hour before the start of the outdoor ceremony.
"We will not have a repeat of three years ago," he added in reference to an unanticipated thunderstorm that interrupted the 2009 commencement, sending graduates and guests running for cover in a downpour of heavy rain.
A chance of rain in the forecast Thursday forced a one-day postponement of this year's ceremony, moving the event from Thursday to Friday.
With mostly clear skies and only a slight chance of rain Friday's evening, Petrone monitored the weather and reviewed a contingency plan that would move the ceremony indoors if storm clouds threatened.
But once the high school band began playing the familiar strains of Sir Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" at 5:59 p.m., the gray clouds overhead dissipated, revealing a blue sky that remained virtually cloud-free for the remainder of the evening.
Dressed in red-and-white caps and gowns, the senior class members filed two-by-two through the high school's main doors and processed to seating set up on the campus parking lot as a sea of family and friends holding mylar balloons and flower bouquets applauded.
In his remarks to the class, Petrone said, "Tonight is your night, seniors. Look around - this is all for you."
He told the class they have been given everything they need to create a spectacular life.
"Live your life with passion and integrity. Be honest, be forgiving and be determined. Put your smartphones down once in a while and look people in the eye, listen to what they are saying and they, in turn, will listen to you," he advised them.
Valedictorian Devon Eichfeld said commencement marks the end of one of the biggest chapters in each student's life.
"But the end of this chapter comes the beginning of a new one," he said.
"Life is full of unexpected turns and you never know where you'll end up, but as one inspiring figure in my childhood once said, 'Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it happen or not,' " Eichfeld said, quoting the character Uncle Iroh from the television show "Avatar: The Last Airbender."
"Hold on to the dreams you fought so hard for over the years. Hold on to your imagination. Expand your horizons. And keep an open mind," he said.
Salutatorian Ashley Dudinyak asked her classmates to always remember the scene in the Walt Disney movie "The Lion King" which Mufasa the lion looks at his son, Simba, and says, "Remember who you are."
"With our next step into the world, it is important to have pride and respect for where our foundation came from. Let us never forget how we got to where we are today," she said.
Assistant Superintendents Donald Bayzick and Craig Butler, ESL teacher Julia Teter and guidance counselor John Samoyedny presented the diplomas and Superintendent Francis X. Antonelli conferred the high school diplomas.