By Lizzy Donker, BCN intern.

Editor’s note: Lizzy Donker is a rising senior at Richmond Hill High School and a Bryan County News intern. She attended Saturday’s graduation to see her brother, Andrew Donker, graduate. She also wrote this story for the BCN.

Over 500 seniors from Richmond Hill High School graduated Saturday, May 22. The ceremony was held at Glynn County Stadium in Brunswick.

The ceremony began with a salutatory address given by Richmond Hill High School’s own James Shin.

Richmond Hill’s valedictorian, Savannah Flanagan, then gave the valedictory address. Names were then called, and each graduate walked across the stage as they received their diploma. The ceremony ended with some words of inspiration from the class of 21’s Class President: Shelby Osteen.

The alma mater was then sung, and the seniors were then officially announced as graduates of Richmond Hill High School.

While this may all seem like your run-of-the-mill, drawn out ceremony, all unnecessarily for the sake of tradition, this day means much more to many of the graduates and their families alike. To many of us, this day marks a milestone.

The closing of a chapter.

We often don’t realize how quickly time flies and how significant these moments are until sitting in the bleachers trying to see your known graduate walk across the stage through a UV index of 10 and a pool of tears (not like I speak from experience of anything though).

So, moral of the story, congratulations to all of the graduates from the class of 2021. You did it, even if you thought you wouldn’t be able to. Also congratulations to their families: to all the parents who are gonna buy a new car with the money they’re going to save now that they have a kid out of the house, and to the ones who are simply just proud. This day was an important and meaningful one to many of us, and if nothing else it can serve as a reminder to us all to appreciate what we have, because before you know it it’ll be gone.