ELIZABETH TOWNSHIP — With less than 20 minutes left in their high school careers, the red capped and gowned Rock Hill students gathered outside Saturday showed a mixture of emotions.

Some chatted amiably with families. Others nervously adjusted themselves, making sure every hair was in place and the tassels were in order. Families captured photographs and movies for posterity.

A soon-to-be nursing student, Tamara Nicely leaned in to give her family last second hugs and kisses before walking through the high school doors, walking through to a new phase of her life.

“It went by quick,” her father, Tracy Nicely said, adding that he wasn’t sure how he would feel when her name is called to walk across the stage. “I don’t know yet. I will have to wait and see. This is unbelievable.”

But it was believable, and not even nerve-wracking, for Sarah Hartwig.

“It will be a new chapter in life. That is always exciting,” she said. “I get to sing tonight and I am not even nervous about that.”

Rock Hill graduated 139 students — 32 with honors. More than three-dozen have already been awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships. Many more are already thinking about their college or post-high school lives.

The class motto was “Make your own dream,” by John Lennon. Each and every student took the first steps toward this new goal Saturday.