LANETT — On Friday night, Morgan-Washburn Stadium played host to 54 graduates from Lanett High School moving on to the next phase of their young lives.

Some students will be heading to college, some into the workforce, but everybody who walked across the middle of the football field can now call themselves high school graduates.

Many students showed visible excitement, while others let the emotion of the moment get the better of them, shedding a few tears along the way.

Lanett High School Counselor YaShika announced scholarships for more than 2o students Friday night.

She said the Class of 2019 Lanett graduates brought in more than $2.9 million in scholarship dollars.

Salutatorian Nyasia Jakia Mason told her classmates that it has not been an easy road, but everyone sitting in those seats can be proud of the milestone they have achieved.

“As we sit here waiting to toss our hats in the air, I want you all to think about our years in high school together,” she said. “I see the potential that God has given all of you.”

She said all students could aspire to create their own path in life.

Lanett High’s 2019 valedictorian Sierra Jackson piggybacked on her classmate by encouraging everybody to create their own path.

“My question to all of you is — how do we go about creating that path,” she said. “I am a firm believer in the saying that life is not a sprint, but a marathon.”

Jackson said people can’t go through full-speed through life.

“If you treat your entire life as a sprint, you will tire out and lose momentum early,” she said. “You will have lived your whole life going through the motions without really living it.”

She’s heading on to the University of Alabama at Birmingham to major in biology and enroll in a pre-med program.

After everybody received their diploma and a handshake from Superintendent Phillip Johnson, the Class of 2019 celebrated together before meeting their family and friends.