HEBRON – Eighty-three seniors reached a milestone Saturday morning, graduating from Hebron Academy in a ceremony held on campus.

A procession of students and faculty kicked off the ceremonies outside Sturtevant Hall shortly after 10:15 a.m. The faculty parted to the sides of the Senior Path leading from the hall and applauded as the seniors, led by piper and 1987 alumnus J. Christopher Pinchbeck, walked between them. The seniors returned the favor as the procession neared Robinson Arena, where the graduation was held.

Katherine Winslow Cole, a member of the graduating class, gave a brief salutation.

“We seniors are grateful for all this wonderful school has given us,” she said.

Senior Charles Bartlett Cummings delivered the graduation message, comparing the students’ experience at Hebron Academy to acting on a stage.

“One of the nicest things here at Hebron,” he said, “is that you can play many different roles.”

He said the graduates had learned to trust each other and work together. He also recalled a trip several students made to Africa to volunteer at an orphanage.

“Social studies was no longer a class,” he said. “It had become real life.”

He said the support of the students’ friends, families and teachers would not disappear, and that the graduates looked forward to the life beyond Hebron.

“Our part here is ending,” he concluded, “but our life is beginning.”

John J. King, the head of the school, began the awards ceremony by asking students to stand in groups determined by when they first came to the academy until the entire graduating class was on its feet.

“That’s how the Class of 2007 came to Hebron and became a class,” he said.

King made the surprise announcement of the Leyden Award in honor of Jack Leyden, associate head of schools. According to Jenny Adams, publications director at Hebron, the award recognizes 30 years of service to the school by the Leyden family, and honors the student with the greatest commitment to the community. The award was given to James Henry Tyler.

Leyden was called to the stage to become an honorary graduate of the Class of 2007, and received a standing ovation.

“Congratulations, and thanks for a lifetime of devotion to our school,” King said.

The Hebron Academy Cup, which recognizes the senior with the “finest spirit of scholastic effort,” excellence in athletic competition, and a “commendable spirit of devotion, high ideals, friendliness, endeavor, and responsibility,” was awarded to Sara Joan Powers.

Prior to his presentation of diplomas, J. Reeve Bright, chairman of the school’s Board of Trustees and a 1966 alumnus, said he had recently met with a graduate who told him the school had laid the foundation to guide his life.

He encouraged the graduates to return “physically and spiritually” to Hebron Academy.

The ceremonies concluded with a valediction given by senior Noah Samuel Taylor Love.

“We have survived, and we have thrived,” he said.