VIDALIA — While friends and family climbed the bleachers of the Vidalia High School football stadium, the anxious graduates reminisced in the lunchroom.

Even the dreary weather couldn’t quell the excitement brewing as they straightened their caps and gowns.

“We’ve been waiting for this day, but I didn’t think it would actually come,” Thao Nguyen said. “We have the easy life right now,” he said, but he recognizes that hard work awaits him at Louisiana Tech, where he will study kinesiology.

Across the room, Nathan Wyant smiled as he remembered spirit week and his friend who “dressed up in a pink gorilla suit.” He said he knew, however, that reality would set in when he moved his tassel and received his diploma. Wyant is thinking about joining the army and later attending Mississippi State University to pursue a degree in construction engineering.

As the graduates approached the field, teary-eyed loved ones snapped pictures and shouted their congratulations. Linda Bourgeois of Vidalia said the moment was both exciting and sad, as her daughter, Melinda Gayle Gauthier, made her way to her seat.

“She’s not sure what she wants to do yet,” Bourgeois said. “She just wants to make a better person of herself.”

Valedictorian Miranda McMurry spoke of the strong bond between the graduates. “Over the years, our class has become a family,” she said. “When things get tough, we can stand together and get through anything.”

The newest alumnae of Vidalia High School attribute their accomplishments to the support of their faculty, family and friends.

Michael Nelson leaves high school with great appreciation for his teachers.

“They understood us as children,” he said. “They understood that we make mistakes.”

Making the transition from adolescence to adulthood, the graduates admit they felt the weight of nostalgia.

Ariel Johnese, VHS salutatorian, spoke to her classmates about the next step.

“We’ve watched each other grow, and now we have to say goodbye to each other,” she said. “We have to face what we’ve avoided thinking about, our future.”

Despite the conflicting emotions of sadness, excitement and relief, the graduates can be sure that life is changing.

Though these 87 graduates must leave high school behind, McMurry challenged them to “learn how to embrace change and just go with it.”