RIMERSBURG, Clarion County — The Union High School graduation Tuesday at the school’s gymnasium was peppered with speeches offering encouragement and hope from past and present students.

Valedictorian Courtney Rankin — one of 52 graduates — urged her classmates to continue to work hard beyond high school.

“We must push ourselves to our limits to face this journey ahead,” said Rankin, who will be an art major at Clarion University in the fall.

Amid a joyous occasion, Rankin reminded her classmates that there will be dark times.

“You must promise me that you will hold onto hope and you will keep it alive within you,” she said.

Salutatorian Gabrielle Smith also had encouraging words for her classmates. She told them never to give up on their dreams.

Quoting actor and comedian Jim Carrey, she said, “You can fail on what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you want.”

Larissa Roberts, a 2016 Clarion University graduate and 2012 Union graduate, spoke.

She noted overcoming obstacles her senior year in college — including vocal chord surgery — to graduate.

“I was an average high school student who strived to do my best in college,” she said. “Hard work does pay off.”

Roberts’ brother, Daniel Roberts, was one of the graduates. He will attend the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology in Troy, Ohio, in January.

“It means a lot,” he said of graduating. “It’s been most of my life I spent in school just working up to this point, and I’m finally here. It’s just a great thing. It’s perfect.”

Mariah Risner, who will attend the Ohio Technical College, also to weld, had mixed feelings.

“It means I succeeded, and that it’s a very sad moment, though,” she said. “Because the people that you grew up with, you’re leaving them and you’re not going to see them that much.”

Graduate Laura Morgan will attend Butler County Community College and major in criminal justice. After that, she will attend the police academy and plans to eventually become a state trooper.

She noted how her time at Union helped prepare her for her planned vocation.

“I think my biggest thing here was my science classes,” she said. “The forensics and the other sciences can help out with a criminal justice career.”

Principal Mark Schlosser had favorable words for the class.

“I think what sets them apart is they are individuals, both as a group and as members of the group, they stand out,” he said. “They’re independent, they’re outside-the-box kind of people. Some would think that as bad, we don’t.

“We’ve got some who are heading to play collegiate football, we’ve got some who are heading to the military, we’ve got some who are looking for higher academics. They’ve already planned out their undergraduate, graduate school, and their doctorate degrees.”

Union High School had a foreign student who enjoyed his experience so much that he is staying stateside following graduation.

Panyapit Uareksit plans to study engineering at Slippery Rock University, and then transfer the following year to study architecture at Penn State University.

“I’m excited,” he said of graduating. “I’ve never felt like this before.”