RIPON – They pumped their fists in the air. They danced a jig.  They flashed victory signs with both arms raised up high, one hand proudly clutching their diploma. There was even a pair of gun salutes – actually a cannon – that went off during the evening ceremony, the first one right after the singing of the National Anthem.

Such was the excitement at the outdoor graduation ceremonies of Ripon High School’s Class of 2012 in the Stouffer Football Field that even sustained wind gusts which left the graduates hanging on to their caps throughout the roughly hour-long commencement exercises failed to diminish the thrill of this momentous event in their life.

Class valedictorian Breanna Gunnarson summed up the collective feeling of the graduates during her short and sentimental speech, quoting a passage from Dr. Seuss’s widely popular book, “Oh, the Places You’ll go.”

“Wherever you go, you will top all the rest,” she said, lifting a line from the book.

“I’m ready to be moving on, to living as the adult I was raised to be,” said Gunnarson who plans to pursue veterinary medicine in college.

Classmate Simrendeep Samra, whose extended three-generation immigrant family were there to watch her march and receive her diploma, is also more than ready to move on to the next chapter in her adult life. She will be attending the University of California, Merced in the fall with the help of a Golden Bobcat scholarship. Her ultimate goal is to become a medical doctor, she said.

Friends Amanda Near and Sydney Harris, who exchanged big hugs at the end of the graduation ceremony, are also college-bound. Near is going to California State University at Humbolt, and Harris will be attending UC Santa Cruz.

Graduate Jordan Carmona, Ripon High’s Homecoming King, was likewise surrounded by his family during the celebration in the field following the commencement ceremony with his mom Becky Robles, Dad Anthony Carmona, and sister Jessica Carmona by his side.

Special music for the evening was sung by graduating senior Darian Henderson. The national anthem was sung by Ripon High’s Music Ensemble consisting of Josh Hoogendoorn, Christian Plata, and Brandon McFadden. The other speaker during the evening was class salutatorian Jordan Gibson. Presenting the diplomas to the graduates were Ripon Unified Board of Trustees Jack DeLiddo, Mike Fisher, Christopher Oase, and Ernie Tyhurst.