RICHMOND — Richmond High School’s close-knit, 27-member class of 2012 received their diplomas and turned their tassels Saturday in the gym at Richmond High School.

Class president and valedictorian Rebecca Sweem welcomed family and friends, noting, “There is no denying that we are moving on, and let me assure you that we are ready. We have an amazing class, filled with strong, wellrounded individuals ready to capture every opportunity that the future holds.”

Danica Hurley, second honor essayist, admitted that during these last few months of high school, “I stated, quite frequently that I didn’t want to leave, that I wanted to stay here forever … but recently I’ve realized that isn’t entirely true.”

Her 14 years attending Richmond schools “have been great,” Hurley said before relating humorous escapades of her classmates over the years.

“These should not be the best years of your life,” Hurley advised classmates. “If measurement topics and keynote presentations are the best years of your life, then you have done something wrong. I want you all to leave here today and make new memories — ones so happy, so great, that you don’t think twice about the ones you made here.”

First honor essayist Lindsy Hoopingarner delivered an emotional speech, as she began reciting the words of Kenny Chesney’s song, “I Go Back,” which “painted a picture of my life and memories.”

However, Hoopingarner changed the words of the song to reflect her life: “I go back to the ’05 red Ford Focus/ Moving here in fifth grade trying to get noticed/ Livin’ life with no sense of time / And I go back to hittin’ foul balls down third base line / Working on the speech, tryin’ to make it rhyme…”

“I wrote that because I love music and when I hear that song I really do go back to all the great memories I’ve had throughout my eight years here in Richmond,” she said. “When I moved here in fifth grade, I figured it was going to be difficult to fit in because I was an outsider… and boy was I wrong.”

Hoopingarner said she was welcomed, and when she reached middle school, “I was intimidated because the high schoolers were right there and there were a bunch of new faces, but having my sister there made it a little less intimidating. I have always looked up to my sister because she has always been there for me and I’ve never had anyone who knows me like she does. Ever since we were little, we’ve only had each other.”

Describing Richmond as a small town where everyone knows everybody’s business, Hoopingarner said, “When you walk down Main Street, you can say ‘Hi’ to everyone. This is the first place that I have lived that I have really felt like the people around me really know me, and these people are like my family.”

Salutatorian Fiona Sterling “decided to share with you the top 10 things I learned while in high school,” starting with, “It is important to always set goals for yourself, and not be afraid to dream too big.”

Among Sterling’s other lessons were: “Success can be measured in a variety of ways;” “Let the world be your classroom;” “Give of yourself;” “Your family will be one of your greatest supporters;” and “Determination is the greatest adrenaline.”

“We live in America, the land of the free,” said valedictorian Rebecca Sweem when she returned to the podium to give her address. “We are free to pursue what we want. Do not settle for less. Just because something seems difficult does not mean you cannot do it.”

Sweem recalled her mother’s experience at her age, a time when, “she struggled with freedom: Freedom from her parents, society during the civil rights movement with ERA and Title IX. This woman that sits in front of me right now went against all odds. When her parents told her she was not allowed to pursue any other career besides teaching, she got a job and pursued an education on her own. When her parents told her to ‘just get married’ as an answer to all her problems, she packed her bags moved across the country and started a new life for herself. It didn’t matter that she had to sleep in her car every night to get there.”

Her mother also raised her during her father’s deployments, coming to terms with the fact that her father might not come home, and that “we have to stick together and do things on our own without him… It is from her, I learned to persevere and with her I still persevere as my father goes on rotation to Afghanistan.”

Sweem said “I could not be more proud and thankful that I had such a wonderful mother who persevered with me to get through this all.”

She bade her fellow graduates, “Do not let others dictate your life.”