The Sumner Spartans entered the Puyallup Fairgrounds Showplex as high school students and exited as graduates.

Class speaker Rachel Hilburn addressed the crowd with words of encouragement as they embark on the future.

She quoted from the film “Synechdoche, New York” when she said, “There are millions of people in the world. None of them are extras, they’re all leads in their own stories.”

She threaded the story comparison throughout her speech by referring to the students as each having their own stories and the years spent together in school as allowing the stories to be intertwined.

“We became fantastically linked into each other’s plotlines,” she said.

Hilburn told her fellow students she looked forward to seeing what would follow in the stories of their lives.

“Congratulations and welcome to your next chapter,” she concluded.