RIMERSBURG — As the 52 graduates of Union High School's class of 2009 made their way up the stairs and onto the stage to receive their diplomas, one graduate in particular stood out.

The three men and one woman congratulating the excited graduates and shaking their hands, switched the order in which they stood so Lanae Cicciarelli could receive her diploma and a hug from her father.

"I was kind of shocked I didn't know that he was going to be giving (the diploma) to me and then I saw them handing it to him," Cicciarelli said. "So it was a surprise, but it felt good."

Lance Cicciarelli, who is a member of the school board, thought the day would never come when he would watch his daughter graduate.

"She was just playing with Barbie dolls last year," Lance said.

Lanae will be attending Kent State University for fashion merchandising in the fall. She graduated with high honors like many of the students from Union High School.

Almost half of the class graduated with honors or high honors. Mathematics teacher Randy Carmichael said that high intelligence with a fun loving attitude was something different about this class.

"As a class, they have a very unique personality," Carmichael said. "And not every class that graduates has that same fun personality where you can have fun with them and then go back to teaching again; and this class you could do that."

While the graduates stood in two lines, waiting anxiously for commencement to begin, valedictorian Melissa Shook showed this characteristic trait as she joked around with fellow graduates Andre' Rhoades and Michael Goss.

"I'm going to miss the antics of Melissa Shook," said Gross who is set to join the Marines and will be attending boot camp in Parris Island, South Carolina.

Throughout Shook's commencement speech, she made references to specific events that only the graduates would understand thanks to their 13 years together in the small school district.

Rhoades, who will be attending Penn State Berhend for mechanical engineering, also expressed how well the classmates got to know each other during their years together by saying his favorite memory from senior year is when Goss bought a cell phone.

"He's just that last person I ever thought would get one," Rhoades said.

Shook will be attending the University of Pittsburgh for occupational therapy in the fall, which will be a big difference from the small community and school in Rimersburg.

"Instead of everyone knowing our name, we have to make our name known," Shook told her classmates.

Speaker Jeffery L. George, vice president of labor relations for Lockheed Martin and 1979 graduate of Union High School, explained to the students that no matter how big the world seemed, it is actually very small.

George wanted the graduates to remember this so much that he gave each of them a small stress reliever globe with Union Class of 2009 written on it.

The graduation, like most endings, was bittersweet for the students, who will be leaving behind friends to start the next chapter in their lives. But most are excited to be going.

Rhoades said, "I'm ready for something different."