Free State High School seniors sing and hug during the singing of the Alma Mater at the 20th Lawrence Free State High School commencement Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at FHS.

The 400-plus seniors who graduated Wednesday evening have won the most academic awards of any class in the history of Free State High School, principal Myron Graber told the crowd that night at Free State’s football stadium.

But, for the Free State graduates in their hunter-green caps and gowns, the occasion offered a chance to have a little fun, crack a few jokes and not take things too seriously.

After all, they only have their whole lives ahead of them.

“We’ll give you a few days to celebrate, take a breath, maybe rest just a little, maybe watch some Netflix,” Superintendent Kyle Hayden said in his remarks to graduates. But he reminded them not to wait to start making a difference.

His advice: “Lead from where you are.”

“There’s a myriad of challenges facing our community, the state of Kansas, our nation and the world,” Hayden said. “If you lead from where you are, you can support those who need it, you can advocate for a cause that’s important to you, you can get involved with an activity that uses your knowledge and skills and share your talents and your passion with others in meaningful ways.”

Lawrence school board president Marcel Harmon, who attended that evening along with several of his colleagues on the board, also encouraged graduates to “embrace lifelong learning.” He emphasized that point with a quote from the American philosopher and education reformer John Dewey: “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.

“And I’m not just talking about what you read in a book, or that article you linked to from Buzzfeed’s Facebook page,” Harmon continued. “I’m talking about growing your whole self, continuing to find ways to stretch yourself, experience new things, meet new people and put yourselves in unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations that challenge you to grow throughout the course of your life.”

In her speech to her fellow graduates, Free State senior Lanice Brown ruminated on success and what it means to be successful. Just as “education is one key on the chain of success,” she said, the years spent at Free State and the bonds forged there represent the educational foundation upon which Wednesday’s graduates will build their lives.

“The best way to get there is to get there together,” Brown said, later telling her classmates, “Never forget where you came from, and always remember the people sitting around you today.”

William Benkelman echoed some of those sentiments in his speech to the Class of 2017. Like Brown before him, the Free State senior spoke of the many changes he and his peers experienced over the last four years, including the “strange ritual” of graduation, wherein kids become young adults in a span of seconds.

High school is weird, Benkelman said, and nothing like the food fights and villainous teachers portrayed in teen movies.

“The only thing I can think of that comes semi-close to what we all just went through is when we all hit puberty,” he said, eliciting laughs from both ends of the Free State football stadium. “It was wild and strange, and we didn’t know what was going on, but we still got through it one way or another. That’s exactly how Free State was to us.”

In his closing remarks, Benkelman gave a nod to the Free State mascot as he reminded classmates to dream big.

“And finally, do not let The Man bring you down,” he said, “Because you are a beautiful Firebird, and you were born to fly.”