FERRIDAY — Four years ago, Jeria Gaines didn’t want to be at Ferriday High School.

It was 2005, and Hurricane Katrina had displaced her from New Orleans to Ferriday.

But that initial resistance to the school changed, 17-year-old Gaines said.

“When I came here, I didn’t want to be here, but when I got here, the longer I was here the more I liked my classes and my classmates,” she said.

In fact, she liked it so much that she was heartbroken to have to move to Utah at the beginning of her senior year.

“I begged and pleaded with my mom,” Gaines said. “I just wanted to graduate here with my friends.”

Her mother relented, she moved back, and Thursday Gaines — whose plans are to study physical therapy at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor — was granted her wish when she walked across the stage with 58 other graduates at FHS’s commencement exercises.

The graduates would have never made it without the help of God, their parents, their school administrators and friends, Salutatorian Micaya Davis said.

The last four years have been full of endings, from the end of the school day and the end of the six weeks to the end of each school year, Davis said.

But is graduation the end of high school and a time to grow up, or is it a reason to party?

“I think it is a little bit of both,” Davis said.

The graduates have looked forward to this day since they entered high school, Valedictorian Dwanda Carter said.

And aside from thanking her parents, teachers and school administrators, Carter had another group to thank.

“I would like to thank my classmates for being who you are, because believe it or not, you have contributed to who I am today,” Carter said.

Because of the education they have received at FHS, the graduates have the potential to fulfill all of their dreams, Carter said.

“Congratulations, FHS class of 2009 — we made it,” she said.

There was more than one cheer, air horn or balloon release as the graduates received their diplomas, and the crowd in attendance seemed to be as excited about the students’ accomplishments as the graduates themselves.

But the ceremony had its solemn moments, and Principal Michelle Bethea presented Catherine Jefferson, the mother of deceased student Brittany Jefferson, with a diploma in her daughter’s stead.

Graduate Kendall Boxley, 17, said he was looking to the future, which includes study at Louisiana Tech University.

“I’m going to miss my family and friends, but I’m looking forward to college,” he said.

Levier Pryor, 18, whose plans include attending Louisiana Tech to study engineering and play football, said he knew he would miss FHS.

“It feels like a new beginning,” Pryor said. “It’s hard, and I’m sorry to leave (high school), but it’s our time.”