Twenty graduates put the finishing touches on their high school careers Friday evening, being a part of the 90th graduating class at St. Joseph High School.

The church was packed on each side, as each of the graduates, followed by the faculty and staff and the Catholic Board of Education, walked down the aisle to begin the ceremony.

“This class has been a pleasure and joy,” principal Paul Mollett said. “We’re happy that they’re leaving, but we’re sad to see them go. I’m so proud of each and every one of them.”

For the students, the closeness of the school community is what they will remember and miss the most.

“It’s like a giant family here,” Emily Anderson said. “There’s a great amount of closeness with the students.”

Anderson participated in many extra curricular activities, including volleyball, cheerleading, bowling, quiz bowl and choir, and said she’s excited about attending Marshall University to study bio chemistry.

“It’s a lot more tight-knit than the average high school,” Brady Parlato said. “You connect with the teachers and other students and being a Catholic school, it gives you a comforting, spiritual experience.”

Parlato was involved with quiz bowl, mock trial and bowling and said he’s excited about attending Georgetown College in the fall to study education.

“I liked the closeness of the faculty and students and the sports programs here,” Lynsey Booker, who played soccer and basketball, said. “I’m going to miss my friends and just being in this environment.”

Booker said she’s studying athletic training at Ohio University in Athens in the fall and eventually wants to go to physical therapy school.

“Overall, as a class, they were good students,” social studies teacher Mike Morgan said. “They’re considerate kids of each other and us, and they’re achievers. I know they’ll make it somewhere, somehow.”