NATCHEZ — The 42 graduates of Cathedral High beaming brightly in their deep green gowns had only one thing one their minds — the future.

As the graduates crowded down in the basement of St. Mary Basilica laughing with classmates, plastering on smiles for endless pictures and fidgeting with their caps, several graduates used the time not to reflect back but to look forward.

Graduate Patrick Gibson said he thought his high school experience was good.

“It was one of a kind for me,” he said.

He said while it is slightly bittersweet for him to be leaving behind the school he came to know and love, he’s ready to tackle whatever is headed his way in the future.

“I’m happy to move on,” he said.

Graduate Lura Glatzer was certainly thinking about the future, but in a different way from Gibson.

“I feel a little nervous,” she said of moving on from high school. “It’s kind of scary.”

While thoughts of moving on to college and the real world might cause Glatzer’s stomach to seize every so often, she said she still looks forward to it.

Graduate Christina Zucarro had no qualms in admitting she was glad to be leaving high school.

“I’m ready for it to be over and to move on to new horizons,” she said.

Honor graduate Gregory Mocklin said his high school experience was OK and that he enjoyed calculus class because he was good at it.

Tugging on his gold honor stole, Mocklin said he didn’t bend over backward to graduate with honors.

“I was surprised to hear I pulled through,” he laughed.

Keeping in line with the thoughts of the rest of his classmates, Mocklin said he was not sad to be leaving high school.

“I’m surprisingly not,” he said.

Salutatorian Joanna David looked to the future in her speech as well.

She spoke of the love that the 2008 graduates have been blessed with over the years, an outpouring from their parents, instructors, family, friends and classmates.

“We are each called to share this love as we grow,” she said.

Valedictorian Madeline Jeansonne likened their time in high school like plants growing.

“For most of us, our parents planted us in Cathedral,” she said.

With nurturing from teachers, administrators and parents, each of them grew and blossomed as students and Christians, she said.

Now they are fully grown and ready to stand on their own.

“We have chosen our own flower beds to plant the seedlings of our future,” she said.