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“Thy years of teaching to us beseeching; to be true in all we do through all our ways.”

Those words in the first verse of Flomaton High School’s alma mater will resonate with the Class of 2023 moving forward after commencement exercises were held tonight in the school auditorium.

Principal Mark Harbison told the graduating class that life is hard, and encouraged them to work hard.

“Pack light, and drive heavy,” Harbison said.

Salutatorian Kamdyn Allgood congratulated her class, and said their current chapter is finished.

“Parents, thank you,” Allgood said. “You truly have done an amazing job raising us. Give yourselves a pat on the back.”

Allgood told her classmates that they can do anything they put their minds toward.

She said time has passed quickly, and recalled sitting in the school as a seventh grader thinking that school days at FHS wouldn’t pass fast.

“It’s crazy how time passes you by,” Allgood said. “It is the greatest thief.”

Valedictorian Rowan Lee told his classmates to keep the future in site.

“People who taught us make us who we are,” Lee said, adding a Walt Whitman quote on choosing the right road.

“We must all travel our own paths of success,” he said. “We are called to the future. Embrace the future. Look forward, life is a journey.”

The Class of 2023 turned their tassels to the left, sang the school’s alma mater and were presented to the throng of family and friends who attended the ceremony, marking a new chapter for the 73 who crossed the stage to receive their diplomas.