Excitement was in the air at Pleasant Valley High School’s Class of 2025 graduation.

Despite some sprinkles of rain, commencement was held at 6 p.m. Friday in the high school stadium.

The class consisted of 350 students, with Briana Palmieri at the top of the class as valedictorian and Noah Dolan as salutatorian. The class officers were Anayah Accilien, president; Ashley Palmieri, vice president; Danielle Boland, secretary; and Briana Palmieri, treasurer.

The student processed in two-by-two wearing the cords and sashes of their accomplishments in school, as well as the military sashes of the branch those entering the military have chosen.

Valedictorian Briana Palmieri’s speech was about lasts and firsts.

“As we prepare to leave all of this behind, it hits us, not just the nostalgia, but the lasts,” she said. “As it turns out, lasts kind of stink.”

Palmieri went on to list examples of lasts — the last time they will all be together as a class, and the last time some of them will ever see each other.

“Some lasts are easy to say goodbye to,” she said. “The last time we get that odd smell in our hair from the old gym. The last moment we’re on Pleasant Valley time, either one minute or two minutes behind. But some lasts, they sneak up on you. The last class with a teacher who made you feel seen. The last Friday night football game. … The last time you felt like everything in your world was right there inside of those school walls.

“And that’s how lasts kind of stink. Because we don’t always know when they’re happening. We don’t realize how much the ordinary, the normal means until it’s over. Every last, every awkward emotional, unexpected last makes space for something else — a first.”

Salutatorian Noah Dolan asked his classmates what they think is the most important thing they can do. Then he said that he thinks it is to live.

“I know what you’re probably thinking right now. What? Isn’t everybody alive? … I would argue that just because you are alive doesn’t necessarily mean that you are living,” Dolan said.

Anyone can just slouch and sit through their days, but that’s just existing. He doesn’t want his classmates to just exist, but to live.

“You have to stand up,” Dolan said. “You have to abandon the comfort of your slouched posture, rise up out of your chair and stand as tall as you can. And you’ll find that when you do stand, you can see more. You feel more awake, more alert, more alive. When you stand and live, you realize you experience so much more than you ever could from the comfort of your chair.”

He challenged his classmates to be open to new possibilities, to push themselves, to be spontaneous, to embrace the present moment, and to never stop learning.

“And finally, I challenge us to be who we really are. I challenge us to live,” Dolan said.

Senior class president Anayah Accilien focused her speech on the future.

“This — right now — is not your moment,” she said. “Your moment wasn’t making the varsity team or getting the lead in the school play. It wasn’t winning the championship, your first debate match, or even winning first for your event at FBLA. … And as special as today is, your moment is not your high school graduation either. Because your moment is what comes next. The world is not waiting for who we’ve been; it’s waiting for who we’re becoming, and this, this is only the beginning.”

Accilien offered her peers three pieces of advice. First, “make peace with your mistake.”

“Every mistake is proof you dared, you tried, and you cared enough to risk being wrong; … the most courageous thing you’ll ever do is forgive yourself and try again,” she said.

Second, “don’t wait for the world to give you your moment. … Because the only thing standing between you and your future is the decision to begin.”

And third, “find your guideposts.” Accilien thanked her parents for being her guideposts.

“When the road feels uncertain, look for the people and values that keep you grounded,” she said