Jordan Majcan is wheeled off the stage after he got up from his wheelchair and walked to receive his diploma during Friday's commencement ceremony at Seneca Valley High School. Majcan was severely injured in a car accident in November 2015.

JACKSON TWP — Be kind. That was Superintendent Tracy Vitale's parting advice for the 560 graduates of Seneca Valley School District who walked across the stage at NexTier Stadium on Friday night.

“You are going to be given much advice in this transitional stage of your life,” she said. “I won't add to it by standing here checking off a list of things you should live by. But … I think I can impart one piece of wisdom on you. Be kind. It's simple. It's direct. And it's the right thing to do.”

For their first lesson in kindness, and their last lesson at Seneca Valley, Vitale had the soon-to-be graduates stand and face the home bleachers that were overflowing with family and friends.

“These are the people who got up in the middle of the night with you,” she said. “They bandaged your scraped knees. They drove you to countless practices, dances, games, concert, friends' houses and more. Some of them watched over you when your parents couldn't. Some of them gave you great advice or their unfiltered opinion when it mattered, even if you didn't want it.”

Vitale asked the Seneca Valley Class of 2018 to thank those who had gotten them to the stadium, to the end of their high school careers and on to the next phase of life, whatever that may be.

Cloudy skies and the threat of rain loomed over the ceremony but the precipitation held off, although the humidity and the heat did not. Temperatures were in the mid-70s as the celebration began.

Alexa Bolena, the salutatorian, challenged her fellow graduates to focus on personal progress rather than practicing for perfection. She urged her cohorts to stop comparing themselves to others, but instead to think about how they can better themselves day-to-day.

“A tree doesn't try to make all of its branches straight like its neighbor,” she said. “Instead it exists perfectly imperfect. Yet it changes and grows over time. It makes progress. Our diligent practices do the same thing. They don't make perfection, they make progress.”

Progress was demonstrated by Jordan Majcan, who rose from his wheelchair to walk across the stage to receive his diploma. Majcan was severely injured in a car accident in November 2015. He fractured two vertebrae and was temporarily paralyzed but has been in rehabilitation since to work on getting back to his feet.

Majcan walked with help and received a standing ovation from the audience and his classmates.

Maya Albanowski, speaker-at-large, and Caleb Cekella, the valedictorian, also spoke during the commencement ceremony. For Cekella, a WPIAL qualifying high-jumper and all-section soccer player, sports analogies helped him paint the picture of how to reach goals and overcome hurdles.

“Greatness is not found in front of thousands of fans or the stadium lights, but in accomplishing the goals you set before yourself and becoming the person you desire to be,” he said.

He emphasized the autonomy each person has over themselves and their goals, and urged them to find what their gift is that they can use to touch other's lives.

“After we walk across this stage and step into the next part of our lives, no one except you can decide where you'll end up,” Cekella said. “Do not walk aimlessly, but go with a purpose and there will be no mountain that can stop you.”