As the Twin Rivers High School Class of 2017 prepared to graduate Sunday afternoon, mothers, grandmothers and even a few sisters struggled to fight back tears. Packed side-by-side on the bleachers, standing in the wings and sitting on the floor, the gym was chock-full of supporters to watch the 87 graduates cross the stage.
"I'm not ready for this chapter to be over," said Lisa Mosier, whose son Lance represents one of the 87. "My oldest son graduated last year, so this is it and I'm just not ready. He's my baby and I've still got a lot of mothering left in me."
Lance's grandmother, Theresa Rushing, also sat teary eyed, waiting on the commencement music to begin.
"He's my youngest grandson, and that makes him extra special to me" said Rushing.
For 11-year-old Katie Hillis, whose brother David Deken is another of the 87 graduates, that "extra special" feeling hits close to home.
"I don't want my brother to leave," Hillis said. "He's my favorite person in the whole world and I'm going to miss him so much."
Hillis's mom, Carrie, said her daughter had been crying all day.
"This is hard on me but I think it's been just as hard on his two sisters," said Carrie, whose 16-year-old daughter Savannah is also not looking forward to her big brother going off to college.
"He's my first born, he's my little boy," Carrie said. "He's graduating from high school and then in three months he's going away to college. It's a lot for a mom and baby sisters."
But the Class of 2017 plans to make their weepy women proud. For instance, Lance plans to pursue a career in computer programming and Deken will attend College of the Ozarks, play baseball and major in physical therapy. Jasmine Landers is joining the U.S. Air Force and Kathryn Gehrke will study to be a dental hygienist at Ozark Technical College.
Of the 87 graduates, 15 are university-bound, 41 will attend community college, two have enlisted in the military and 29 will seek full-time employment. As a whole, the group earned $854,680 in scholarship money to help them on their post-secondary journey.
Valedictorian Kassidy Sentell addressed her classmates in a light-hearted monologue garnering lots of laughs. But near the end of her speech, she challenged her fellow graduates to never undervalue themselves.
"According to historian Richard Morris, the founding of the United States was attributed to eight select people," Sentell said. "There are 87 select people sitting in front of me. If we all go out and strive to reach our full potential, imagine what profound affects we could have on this developing world."
Salutatorian Alyssa Riley echoed Sentell's words of advice, but her message was a bit more personal.
"Learn to be happy with who you are," Riley said, "or you'll spend your whole life with someone you don't like."
And just like that, less than two hours later, 87 individuals who'd entered the Twin Rivers High School gym as students, exited as adults, ready to take on the world as the graduated class of 2017.