Graduation Day

HAGERSTOWN-The tassels had been switched, the speeches were over and the last of the group photos had been taken. Four years of hard work had been rewarded with a diploma. Now, it was time to look to the future. On Saturday afternoon, St. Maria Goretti High School sent 52 freshly graduated students out into the world to pursue college and careers. Behind the pomp and circumstance of the commencement at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church, there were stories of individual successes and unique accomplishments.

The tassels had been switched, the speeches were over and the last of the group photos had been taken. Four years of hard work had been rewarded with a diploma. Now, it was time to look to the future. On Saturday afternoon, St. Maria Goretti High School sent 52 freshly graduated students out into the world to pursue college and careers. Behind the pomp and circumstance of the commencement at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church, there were stories of individual successes and unique accomplishments.

Click here to view and/or purchase photos. SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.VA. - Excitement? Relief? How does one describe graduation day?, Musselman High School senior Ryan Trochimowicz was asked. "It's kind of everything," he said, shortly before walking with the class of 2007 in their finale as Applemen. Thursday's commencement had a little of everything, too, from a class history to poetry to a band performance to heartfelt speeches. "The world is your red carpet," Victoria Phillips told her classmates, a sea of green and white robes.

HAGERSTOWN When Kayla Neff's son asked her why he should stay in school, she didn't hesitate with her answer. It's important to finish school, she told him. It's important to graduate, she said. "He didn't like school at first, and he brought up that I didn't graduate," Neff said of her 5-year-old, William. That was enough to send the 24-year-old back to school for her degree. Neff graduated Sunday along with 51 others also receiving their GEDs at Hagerstown Community College's Athletic, Recreation and Community Center.

HAGERSTOWN Katelyn Webb waited patiently for her family to join her Friday morning for Boonsboro High School's graduation ceremony outside the Athletic, Recreation and Community Center at Hagerstown Community College. "My brother, John Webb, is graduating, and I'm really proud of him," said 16-year-old Katelyn, who will be a junior at Washington County Technical High School in the fall. By the time things finally got under way, the ARCC was packed with graduates, faculty, family and friends.

marlob@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - Friday wasn't just a special day for Boonsboro High School graduates - parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers and even the mayor of Boonsboro were there to share the excitement as diplomas were awarded to the class of 2005. "We were invited by Sarah Murto," said Boonsboro Mayor Charles "Skip" Kauffman Jr., who was accompanied by his wife, Cynthia, to the ceremony at the Athletic, Recreation and Community Center at Hagerstown Community College.

marlob@herald-mail.com HANCOCK - Allen Murphy was in his first days at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis when the events of Sept. 11, 2001, forever changed his life and the world in which he will be serving his country. "I remember I was just out of class that day when the first plane hit," Murphy said. "Of course there was a lot of military at the academy and many from New York, so everyone was very concerned. " Allen graduated from the academy on May 27 in a ceremony attended by his parents, Daniel and Debbie Murphy, his sister Emily and her husband, two of his grandparents and a number of friends.

keller@herald-mail.com Graduation day is typically one of the most exciting days in the life of a high school senior. "Typical" likely would not be the word to describe Jared Barkdoll's graduation day. Just hours before he was to receive his diploma with the rest of his Greencastle-Antrim High School classmates Wednesday, Barkdoll got word he had been drafted by the New York Mets in the 42nd round of the Major League Baseball First-Year...

karenh@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - Going to college. Joining the military. Raising a family. The dreams of some Washington County Job Development Center graduates are pretty similar to those of their peers in the rest of the Class of 2005. The challenges students faced before taking the stage Thursday might be a bit different, friends and family members said after the center's graduation ceremony at Hagerstown Community College's Kepler Theater. "It's a joy to see these kids with their disabilities be able to see it to graduation day," said Ruth Hardman, who raised her granddaughter, Kerry Hardman, from infancy.

HANCOCK scottb@herald-mail.com There is a question the 45 students in Hancock High School's graduating class have been asked more than any other in recent weeks, co-valedictorian Paul M. Brennan said Thursday: "Are you ready for the real world?" Brennan said that question followed others the students were asked during the school year: Were they ready for a test, a date, a job and for graduation? But he suggested the question is backward. The students should be asked not whether they are ready for the real world, but whether the real world is ready for them, he said.