The Class of 2018 from Buckingham County High School were celebrated with messages of love, hope and confidence from faculty and fellow students during its graduation ceremony Friday, held at 7 p.m. at the Buckingham County High School gymnasium.

Graduates this year donated portions of its fund to the cafeteria, Senior Class Treasurer Ty’Leik Chambers said during the ceremony.

Principal Rudolph Roethel said Friday the class of 2018 is special to him because the students in the class were freshmen when he became principal four years ago.

“You were my first class, my assertive class,” he added as the audience laughed. “Confident and with a strong personality.”

He described students of the class developing and deepening those traits: brave, energetic, compassionate and socially responsible.

“I wish to thank you for always keeping an open audience with me with ideas of how we can make this school better,” Roethel said. “This is your school, and your thoughts and proposals have energized the administration and staff to consider new ideas and common sense. Your voices are important.”

He said students can continue to communicate their thoughts and hope to the school after graduation.

“I hope this is a day that you will always remember, reflect on and cherish,” Roethel said. “High School is an area of transition into adulthood. High School is where you truly begin to be the person that you will become. High School lays the foundation for your future academic growth, your social interactions and your ethical and moral development.”

“As I’ve watched you grow academically, socially, emotionally over these last four year, I am confident that as a class, you have made the transition, you will surmont life’s challenges,” Roethel said.

He encouraged students to be civil in the face of disagreement, to listen to one another and to be responsible for one’s actions.

Salutatorian Emily Gormus also graduated with an associate degree from Southside Virginia Community College and will be attending Bridgewater College. Gormus qualifies for a national competition with the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and is active in softball and volleyball.

Gormus spoke about her past with Buckingham County Public Schools, describing the increased responsibility of academics and athletics in middle and high school, and the shifts in personal belief that will continue after high school.

“It was a crash course in organization and time management, but it was a lesson I’m certain will serve me well in the future,” Gormus said. “As we are at the end of our high school careers, our perspectives and worldviews are about to change again … We should never stop learning and growing.”

Class Valedictorian Daniel Brickhill, who has played varsity football and basketball, served as senior class president and will be attending Harvard University, thanked parents, guardians and faculty who helped make the class possible at the beginning of the ceremony.

“Let’s cherish every moment of our graduation,” Brickhill said. “Let’s remember the wisdom offered to us, and let us take hold of every moment because this will all be over in a blink of an eye.”

He spoke about the future as a way to question societal norms, and take creative action to generate change. He spoke about current graduates and their own plans to take over the world.

Later in the ceremony, he spoke about attending Buckingham County High School as a transfer student, being struck by the affirmation and support he received from faculty and classmates.

“I think it is the early positive experiences that I had that made me so confident to call this school home,” Brickhill said.

Dr. Cecil Snead, superintendent, spoke, addressing the class for the last time before his departure to Orange County Public Schools as superintendent. His last day will be June 30.

He spoke about time and love, two concepts that he said he’s learned and used to the best of his ability at the school division.

He quoted a song by Luke Bryan, called “Most People Are Good,” that says “I believe that days go slow and years go fast.”

“Those days do add up to years,” Snead said, referring to days students have experienced. “Have you ever looked back on those past four years of high school and feel as if it were yesterday? That you were sitting in your ninth grade English class or that you were excited that you saw that you made a particular sports team? Perhaps now, four years later, you look back on those days as being not so long ago, but as you were going through them, day by day, they seemed to never end.”

“If you look at time and how you spend it, and you do so with a heart of love, I believe that you will have a successful life beyond your high school years,” Snead said.

He said when he began his role as superintendent, the class of 2018 was in seventh grade.

“You did not waste your time,” Snead said, noting students’ academic, athletic and artistic involvements with the school division and community. “It’s apparent when I look through your yearbook that you embodied love and spirit. The memories in that yearbook reflect joy, and that is evident.”