The class of 2013 graduated Saturday under sunny skies in the Vashon High School stadium. The ceremony, by turns spirited, funny and solemn, featured several speeches, including an address given by students Alec Spencer and Kelly Sullivan, who the graduates had chosen to speak that day. It provided many laughs, but also several moving moments, including when they noted about Vashon, “It’s incredible how much love can fit into 13 miles of length.”

Valedictorian Maria Osborne, who left her high school career behind with a 4.0 GPA, also addressed the group with a set of commandments she tries to follow, ranging from the importance of loving deeply and honestly to the value of thinking carefully about values. In the end, she conjured up A. A. Milne’s Piglet, telling them, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying good-bye so hard.”

The ceremony also included many tributes to retiring principal Susan Hanson, who spoke some about the difficulty of the year and the loss of students Palmer Burke and Ryan Krug. She had tender words for the graduates and told them at the end of each day to be sure to look for the joy they had experienced.

“Because no matter how hard, there will always be joy,” she told the students before her. “You were my joy.”