NATCHEZ — Trinity Episcopal Day School valedictorian Sarah Rodriguez urged the graduating class of 2014 to not look back, but instead move forward as they transition to the next chapters of their lives.

“Don’t look back because you’re not going that way,” Rodriguez told her fellow graduates and a crowd gathered at Trinity Episcopal Church Sunday afternoon for the school’s graduation ceremony. “Life moves forward and so must we.”

Rodriguez was one of 19 graduates in the class of 2014, all of who received some mention in her speech and in salutatorian Adalyn Boyd’s speech.

Boyd said she couldn’t have imagined the impact Trinity would have on her life when she began attending the school four years ago.

“I was so excited for a new beginning, but I got so much more,” Boyd said. “I received a family and memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Boyd went down the list of graduates and mentioned the role each one had in her life during her time at Trinity and things she will always remember about them.

“Dre (McCoy), who was my partner in track and private investigator sometimes,” Boyd said, smiling. “And Cole (Radzewicz) who would call me at the end of the day to make sure everything was all right.”

Boyd urged her classmates to remember those little things about each other in the years ahead.

But most of all, Boyd asked the graduates to always keep Natchez close to their hearts because it was the backdrop for all the memories they were able to make and share together.

“Home is always where the heart is,” Boyd said. “As we come home, we’ll see the memories we shared together.

“You will always be my family.”

Rodriguez asked the graduates to always keep their loved ones high atop their priority lists, no matter what else is on that list.

“Prioritize the people in your life and be affected by change,” she said. “Learn from them and rise up to be better.”

Before the graduates walked outside to toss their caps in the air, Head of School Les Hegwood gave all the graduates a gift to take with them.

“When I tell you what it is, you will feel like I’m the grandparent, uncle or aunt who always gives you socks or something boring like that,” Hegwood said. “I didn’t go out and buy you anything, and you can’t touch this thing.

“I’m trying to pass on to you something that has been there for me in my worst hours.”

Hegwood read the graduates the Prayer of Saint Francis, which Hegwood explained focuses on two columns, or sides, of life — darkness and light.

“We fall in our lives on either side of those columns,” he said. “Sometimes we need to be consoled, but thankfully we’re blessed with people, the people surrounded by you right now, who come to you in times of darkness and put light there.

“Be that light, be that joy on the right side of the column. I know it’s in your hearts.”