Video: Graduating the Class of 2011

Family and friends applauded and cheered as the senior class of Newark Memorial High School ended their high school years with a graduation ceremony Saturday.

Wearing blue and yellow robes, the 400 graduating seniors walked the stage individually, marking the conclusion of their years as teenagers and the beginning of their young adulthood.

Graduates expressed appreciation and excitement during Saturday’s graduation, and relatives and friends proudly praised their graduates with chants, shouts and signs.

In a speech to the senior class, Valedictorian Vinit Nayak reminded his fellow classmates that their future is in their own hands.

“If there is one lesson I have learned over the last four years, it is that life is what you make it.," he said. "Life can be as exhilarating or as monotonous as you want it to be. You can be as ordinary or as extraordinary as you want to be. And no one can tell you otherwise.

“Our goals and achievements are up to us. It is our responsibility to seize them. We cannot live life in a passive manner. … we have to strive, struggle and attain what we want in our life to seize phenomenal results.”

For more highlights from Saturday’s graduation ceremony, watch our video above. To add your photographs to our Graduation photo gallery, .

Download the movie