Mount Vernon High School held commencement exercises for 125 students Sunday, May 24.

Mount Vernon superintendent Matt Leeman gave advice to graduating seniors.

“The first piece of advice is who you are will matter more than your accomplishments,” Leeman said. “They won’t remember your GPA, your class rank, your SAT scores, but they will remember how you treated them.”

Leeman said the class of 2026 is full of talent, and what the world needs is people willing to make great decisions.

He encouraged the class to be courageous and make decisions, noting you don’t get anywhere making choices from safe places.

Mount Vernon senior Grace Hale gave her speech, noting some of her accomplishments.

“There is a quote outside of our beloved senora’s rooms that reads ‘this must be the place,’” Hale said. “I find it awfully true, for Mount Vernon High School is a place where it is easy to find an opportunity to soar. So much so, that we have been set up for success outside of these walls, rather than just in them.”

Hale encouraged her fellow Mustangs to keep going and excelling out in the real world, to offer the gifts they have to offer.

“Be yourself, but do it with defiant joy,” Hale said. “Defiant joy against both the struggles, the mundane and whatever comes your way. Wherever this life may lead you all, I’m glad I get to know you and be with you, my peers, my classmates, my childhood friends. Get grateful and keep going.”

Mount Vernon senior Norah Weber gave a speech about what makes a person an individual.

“Maybe it wasn’t the winning itself, but the exhilaration and pride you felt knowing the obstacles you overcame to do it,” Weber said. “Or maybe it was the coaches that created a family that you will have the rest of your life.”

Weber spoke about how music gave her a focus in her life, on how singing the wrong note loud and proud was better than not singing at all.

“Messing up my liens wasn’t a reason to quit,” Weber said, of her time in the musical. “It was an opportunity to – in Mr. Stephen’s words – #justact. At Mount Vernon, our accomplishments might be applauded, but when we grow from our failures, we are celebrated. Our talents are recognized, but our character and empathy are what defines us.”

Weber said the success of students is in all of the people who believe in them. She noted Thad Wilkins message on living with integrity is important.

“Wilkins tells us our class is always too worried about being perfect, that if we free ourselves to be free in the music, the rest will take care of itself,” Weber said. “Let yourself be free in the unknown, the journey, wherever it takes you. Celebrate the little moments, grow from the failures. All those moments add up to define what makes you.”

Math teacher Nathan Namanny was the faculty speaker selected by the class of 2026.

Namanny said that this class was special because of how they treat themselves and one another.

He also answered when students would use math in the real world.

“Math is not always linear,” Namanny said. “Sometimes solving for an equation is not always a simple path to an answer. Many of you have circled an answer when you know it’s wrong, and you continue working the problem. That’s what life is. Solving one problem after another. You continue to work the problems.”

The three attributes Namanny said would be important are effort, perseverance and character.

Effort was giving something all you have in all you do, according to Namanny.

Perseverance is the ability to keep moving forward.

“Human beings are never going to be stationary,” Namanny said.

Character tied into the message Leeman uttered earlier in the day, the importance of the choices someone makes in their lives.