The printed program for Thursday night’s West Seattle High School Class of 2019 commencement ceremony had something we don’t recall seeing in a decade-plus of covering graduations: A list of the students’ senior-project topics. This was just the first of the four pages:

A different angle on the 220+ Westside grads’ worldliness was offered by ASB president Marlee Bennett, who tossed out graduation-speech buzzwords before these reminiscences:

The students’ choice for faculty speaker, teacher/volleyball coach Abby West, said she has a special bond with the Class of 2019, since she also started at WSHS four years ago. And she offered advice on how to treat others as well as themselves:

High school has enabled the new grads to gain a sense of who they are, observed Wilder Law, speaking on “Lessons of Life”:

One somber lesson the Class of 2019 learned all too soon was about mourning; a moment of silence was offered in memory of Jonathan Teso, who died in a crash last summer.

And then, inspiration from th final student speaker, valedictorian Emma Foulk, who cited superhero emulation in urging her classmates to live with courage:

WSHS’s second-year principal Brian Vance didn’t take the podium until the ceremony was more than half over. Before some staff recognition, he led a “Westside” cheer:

Student musicians were spotlighted too – Kelsey Lenzie singing the national anthem, and Westrum Lowe with a vocal/guitar solo. Finally, it was diploma time:

The tassel ceremony, led by Sam Niederberger, was followed by the unofficial cap toss, and the new grads were congratulated before walking off the field at Southwest Athletic Complex: