FARMINGTON – The seniors of Mt. Blue High School graduated Saturday afternoon in a ceremony that recognized the closeness of the class and its achievements over the last few years.

“I must say that the actions of these groups of young people speak for themselves,” Principal Joe Moore said in opening remarks.

Throughout the ceremony the class – consisting of 197 graduates – was noted for trying new approaches to their daily lives, and often looking for ways to help.

In his speech, Class President Andrew Hardy discussed the accomplishments of the class and how it reached out to the community, and also offered assistance on a national level. Through the help of a teacher, the class earned enough money to help enable a school in Louisiana to reopen in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Last week, instead of following tradition and performing a senior prank, seniors assisted senior citizens in the community. To make incoming freshmen feel more welcome, some seniors greeted them in the morning with doughnuts.

Prom was one of the biggest achievements, Hardy said, calling it a “fantastic learning experience” and “one of the best proms that ever occurred at Mt. Blue High School.”

Later, Class Vice President Pete Farnum added that instead of giving the incoming senior class one gift at the end of the year, the senior class chose to give it various gifts throughout the year, such as a new gold key to the school and a life-sized hand-carved cougar, which is the school mascot.

“It’s not the monumental events that make a difference,” Farnum said. “It’s the numerous small details from day to day.”

Farnum thanked the class advisors for not rejecting the ideas of seniors without giving them full consideration. He encouraged the class to continue to think big and do “crazy” things.

“If you think you have the craziest idea, why not act on it?” Farnum said. “If someone says it’s useless, why not show them how useful it can be?”

To get an idea of how they viewed the seniors, Hardy recently asked teachers to describe the class in three words. Some responses he heard were “honorable, attentive, fun loving, spirited, resourceful and experts at barbecues.”

Senior speaker Graham Taber gave an emotional speech about how he almost dropped out of school but looked to his daughter Natalie for “inspiration and motivation” and found the senior class to be accepting of him.

After Taber’s speech, Principal Moore said, “I started to think of how each of us comes with our own baggage.” He told the class not to let anyone tell them they can’t accomplish a goal or objective.

“You’re all individual miracles, and you all should always strive for the impossible,” Moore urged students.

Two other senior speakers, Abigail Martin and Bonnie Silkman, recalled unique memories that the class shared together, like dancing to the popular video game “Dance Dance Revolution,” the sumo wrestlers at the school’s Halloween dance, and “the legendary Room 203.”

Martin joked about unusual ways to recognize a Mt. Blue student, such as kids riding around the movie theater park, hanging out at the local park n’ ride, and ordering late-night pies at Irving convenience store.