LISBON — The Lisbon High School Class of 2016 was the first in 25 years to have commencement held at the high school, in the newly finished gym Sunday.

Friends and family filled the seats to watch the graduates take that step across the stage and turn their tassels.

Class President Cody Campbell posed the question many grads ask themselves: What’s next?

“Albert Einstein said that the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious,” Campbell said, “but what is even more beautiful is that we are all going into the unknown together.”

Class speakers Alyssa Briglio and Jake Angelico shared inspirational words to aid their friends and peers in their new adventures.

“We’ve been a part of some great and successful years here,” Briglio said, reminiscing on state championship titles and drama club accomplishments. “Cherish and remember these moments as long as you can.”

She added, “It’s thrilling, exciting and scary. As you move on in life, add to your memories. Appreciate the new ones and old ones equally.”

Angelico challenged his classmates to find their success: “Strive for it and become it.”

The high school and middle school choral groups’ joined forces to send off the graduates, with messages to “thrive and grow” and to continue imagining.

Retired social studies teacher Carol Bianchi gave a touching and personal commencement speech to the graduates, who were her last class in eighth grade. “Please don’t grow up to be settlers,” she said. “Settlers just take things that are good enough. You all deserve better. Raise your own bar; make sure that you ask for something more and work for it.”

Superintendent Richard Green was excited to have a successful and memorable graduating class holding its ceremony in the new school gym. “I would like to personally thank you for finishing what you started,” he said. “I hope your time here has been productive, valuable and memorable.”

The class officers ended the ceremony by presenting gifts to faculty members who helped them reach this milestone.

“This is a how to survive without the Class of 2016 basket,” Campbell joked. The baskets included tissues to dry their tears, water bottles to rehydrate from crying, and Band-Aids to heal the holes in their hearts.

In his commencement speech, social studies teacher Dean Hall passed on his final piece of advice to the graduates.

“Your Lisbon High School moment is coming to an end,” Hall said. “Your family members are in the audience, freaking out and facing the basic facts: Children grow up too fast.”

He added, “You’ve inspired us with your time here.”