The Renton School District celebrated the culmination of 13 years of hard work, if you count kindergarten, of seniors graduating from Hazen, Renton and Lindbergh High Schools on Tuesday at ShoWare Center in Kent.

Waves of seniors from each of the schools filed into the back of the center all afternoon to line up for their commencement ceremonies.

They hugged one another, straightened each other’s caps and sashes and expressed their nervousness and excitement about graduation.

Many of them have been anticipating this moment for a long time.

“I’ve been pretty excited,” said Hayley Woodbridge of Hazen High School. “I’ve had the countdown on my phone going to graduation the whole year. I’m just kind of relieved to get it over with and get to move on to whatever else is next.”

Woodbridge was one of the 23 Oliver M. Hazen scholars who marched in the commencement ceremony. It is a scholarship given to students of the school for their overall school involvement and for having a 3.5 or better grade point average.

In his commencent address, Hazen’s principal, John Kniseley, encouraged students to participate in the upcoming election, jokingly reminding them they are the last class before the end of the world, according to the Mayan Calendar, and commended them for their participation in school activities.

“You will never achieve real success unless you enjoy what you’re doing,” Kniseley told the graduates.

Many of the students said they appreciated the opportunities high school brought their way.

Hazen’s Andrew Le remarked that he started high school as a quiet guy but was transformed by the opportunities he had that took him to state level competitions on the swim team and in clubs like DECA, (Distributive Education Clubs of America) and FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America).

“It’s just a lot of opportunities brought to me and I learned so much about the world and how I can improve myself to be a better person,” Le said.

One thing Le won’t miss is the food, he said, which “wasn’t on par with my standards, but it was enough.”

Renton High School’s Phe’shay Locke found her motivation to achieve in school and pursue her college aspirations through the leadership opportunities she discovered at Renton High School.

Locke joked around with her fellow student body officers in the hall as other Renton students congregated in locker rooms preparing for their entrance.

She had a rocky start to her freshmen year but turned it all around through her involvement with student council, she said.

Now she wants to go to Washington State University to pursue becoming a teacher and return to Renton High and teach English.

“So, I think leadership has impacted me and Renton High School with our motto ‘pride, tradition and excellence,’ really has pushed me forward to do that,” Locke said.

The road to graduation is a journey that parents share along with their student.

For Cynthia Kearsley, mom to Renton grad Dylan Kearsley, it took “a lot of hard work and determination” to make it to commencement.

Dylan was in Special Education classes at Renton High and received a certificate of completion instead of a diploma in Tuesday’s exercises.

His mother said he had a lot of great teachers who helped him achieve this goal.

“Dylan had a lot of people that stood behind him and helped him through and I’m really grateful for that,” said Cynthia, who expressed a mixture of happiness and sadness at the day’s event.

After graduation, Dylan will go to an adult transition program, where he’ll be matched with a job coach.

“They will help him work on his life skills and then also help him find a job that he can learn and possibly do on his own one day,” said Andrea McMillan, his special education teacher.

McMillan had three students in her program receiving certificates at the ceremony.

One thing most every student agreed they will not miss about high school is waking up early.

Lindbergh’s Calebse Cange is looking forward to creating his own schedule at Green River Community College next year where he will go until he transfers to Eastern Washington University.

“This is so exciting; I’ve been waiting for this day forever, happy that it’s here,” he said.