Principal Ed Bertolini talked to the audience before the school’s band played the traditional "Pomp and Circumstance" to bring in the graduates.

"This day is important for two reasons," Bertolini said. "The students receive diplomas for fours year of study and the families get to see them."

He told the families, who packed into the gymnasium’s two bleachers, that it was okay to applaud after each graduate’s name is called, rather than wait until the end as some schools do.

"We know you wouldn’t do that anyway," he said, before starting the ceremony.

Valedictorian Kaitlin East talked about how everyone feels a sense of belonging in this small community, which enables students to build confidence and feel a part of something bigger than themselves.

She quoted poet Maya Angelou, "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.

"This sense of community will stay with me," East said. "And each one of you has helped establish this sense of community for us at Leonia High School."

Class salutatorian Sally Wang talked about her first class at the school four years ago.

"We had a pop quiz," Wang said. "Our first taste of failure."

But Wang said that because of these little failures through the years the students learned that life can have many defeats that can be overcome.

"We’re now stronger," she said.

Their decision-making skills were strengthened by the constant quizzes, but they also taught them the value of friendship, Wang said.

"It is sweeter to fail a pop quiz with friends than alone," she said.

But it’s also better to pass the quiz along with your friends and not be the only one still failing.

"You should always take your friends with you wherever you go in life," Wang said.

After all the diplomas were handed out students joined their friends and tossed their caps in the air.