Like the white rose it chose as its flower, the Lehighton Area High School Class of 2022 weathered times of both intense sunshine and tumultuous thunderstorms over the four years that led up to Friday night’s graduation ceremony.

When the night was through, 149 Indians received their diploma thanks in large part to what valedictorian Jenna Gasker described as an unyielding passion, devotion to hard work and unparalleled community support.

“Despite the hindrances they face, flowers still strive to grow,” Gasker said. “Even when they have every excuse to give up, they continue to persevere and bloom. We are a garden of beautiful roses ready to bloom.”

Gasker took her class step by step through the three reasons she said led them to their diplomas, starting with hard work.

“My friends still make fun of me for all the times I brought my homework to hangouts, like when I whipped out flashcards at Taco Bell because I had an anatomy test the next day,” Gasker said. “For anything you do in life, if you are fully committed and diligently work hard with no excuses, you are destined to find success.”

Being a student at Lehighton Area High School equipped Megan Aaron, salutatorian, with the necessary information and morals to stay on the right path and continue to make decisions that she hopes will lead her to a successful and purposeful life.

“As I look across the sea of maroon and white sitting in front of me, I see future nurses, engineers, physical therapists, teachers, electricians, hair stylists, and so many more fantastic occupations,” Aaron said during her address Friday night. “Lehighton is the home of talented artists, performers, scientists, and carpenters with each individual being given the guidance and education needed to grow their specialized skills. This town and the people within it have shaped us into the people we are and have inspired the people we wish to become.”

Aaron urged her classmates to strive to reach whatever it is they define as personal success.

“Work hard and find what brings you fulfillment in this life,” she said. “Success cannot be measured by wealth or fame, but when you feel you have found your purpose on this earth. My hope is that we too have left the younger members of our community something to look up to, whether that is a record to break or a position to hold.”

Giving one last assignment to the class she oversaw for four years, many of them longer than that, High School Principal Sue Howland tasked the graduates with creating their own vision statement.

“Your vision statement can be a reasonable set of goals used as a road map for what you hope to achieve after leaving here tonight,” Howland told the class. “If you can’t see or imagine what you want and deserve, how can you go out and get it? Be proactive for what you want. Make it happen. Kick down any walls in your way and bust through the glass ceilings. Never ever let anybody tell you that it can’t be done or that you are incapable.”

With graduation in the rearview mirror, Lehighton’s Class of 2022 begins their next steps in life’s journey, but Gasker urged them to never forget where they came from.

“As you move on and move away from this town,” she said, “remember the soil in which you sprouted from. The memories made and the life lessons learned in Lehighton will forever be engraved into your character.”