VIDALIA — The Vidalia High School Class of 2011 will likely always mark their graduation in conjunction with the greatest Mississippi River flood ever.

But Friday night, the grads were exactly what the city needed to get its mind off the river.

Eighty-five Vidalia High School seniors took the first step toward the next phase in their lives when they received their diplomas at the VHS football stadium.

Hundreds of people filled the stadium to its capacity, as onlookers did their very best to find any available spot to view the ceremony.

The seniors marched onto the field and brought with them a celebratory atmosphere the crowd embraced.

Even before graduation began, graduate Howard Smith was ready to move forward in life.

“It was a really good four years, and I had a lot of fun,” he said. “But man am I ready to go to work.”

While Smith is ready to begin life in the working world, other graduates were just happy to finally be done with a 13-year journey.

“Oh man. It just feels so great to be done,” graduate Savannah Hammers said. “I am definitely not going to miss going to school anymore.”

While Hammers may not miss school, she did say she would miss her classmates, a sentiment shared by many of the class of 2011.

Valedictorian Cari Ainsworth said her fellow graduates were like a family to her.

“We are not just people in the same class,” she said in her speech to the crowd.

Salutatorian Alexa Mallory said the 2011 class always came together.

“We always lifted each other up during hard times,” she said.

Ainsworth challenged her “family” to always remember to do their best in every aspect of their lives and to not be afraid of making mistakes

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment,” she said. “You have to learn from your mistakes.”

The students didn’t forget to mention the work of their teachers either.

Mallory credited the VHS faculty and staff for their hard work preparing the 2011 graduating class for the world ahead.

“Our teachers have kept us growing,” she said. “There is no way I could list every teacher that has impacted us.”

With graduation behind them, and high school no longer in their lives, Ainsworth ended her speech with a challenge to all her classmates regarding the last four years of their lives.

“Don’t cry because it’s over,” she said. “Smile because it happened.”