NATCHEZ — Trinity Episcopal Day School Valedictorian Wesley Gore said he would give his fellow graduates simple advice today.

“I’m going to tell them to reach for the stars,” Gore said. “It’s the closing of one door, but the opening of another one.”

As the top student in his graduating class, Gore will address his peers, parents and friends today at Trinity’s commencement ceremony.

“It’s a great honor to get to address my class with a speech,” Gore said. “I’m a little nervous, but I think I’ll be more excited when I finally get up there.”

The Trinity senior said he had a sneaking suspicion he was at the top of his class, but knew his good friend, Murphy Aldridge, was also near the top.

“I knew it was going to be me or her, so it was a friendly competition between us,” Gore said. “I was excited and relieved when I found out I was valedictorian.”

While Gore said he would be sad to leave behind his classmates and the school he’s attended since kindergarten, he’s also looking forward to the road ahead.

Gore will attend Louisiana State University in the fall with the initial plan of majoring in biology with a pre-med concentration.

But that could easily change, Gore said.

“My dream is to become a Disney Imagineer,” Gore said. “I’ve just always loved Disney since I was a child, and there are essentially two sides to Disney Imagineering — the people who build it and the people who dream it.

“I think I could do both.”

While he doesn’t know exactly how he’ll become a Disney Imagineer, Gore said that’s all part of what he’s looking forward to experiencing after graduation.

“That’s all part of the great adventure we’re about to embark on,” Gore said. “I’ll just have to figure out as I go along.”

But for now, Gore said he’s most excited about getting to LSU and starting his college career at the school his parents always remind him that he was meant to attend.

“I was 2 or 3 years old and my favorite animal was a tiger,” Gore said. “So this LSU commercial comes on and says, ‘Home of the Tigers,’ and I said, ‘That’s where I’m going to go.’

“My parents love to tell that story.”

Saying goodbye to such a close-knit group of classmates comes first though, Gore said.

“It’s going to be sad to say goodbye, but I know we’ll all stay in touch,” Gore said. “We’ve all become so close over the years, but this is the moment all our hard work has been leading up to.”

Gore is the son of Wes and Karey Gore.

Trinity’s commencement ceremony will be at 2 p.m. today at Trinity Episcopal Church.