A retired hall of fame football coach and a former NASA test pilot led the way in launching Salina USD 305 Seniors into the next phase of their young lives Sunday. There were plenty of smiles, hugs, and tears as family, friends, and well-wishers said goodbye to graduating seniors.

Seniors from Salina South and Salina Central celebrated commencement.

South seniors were the first to walk across the stage and graduate in front of a packed house at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center. A couple of hours later seniors from Central did the same thing. As their names were called the seniors walked across the stage as friends and family cheered.

At the South ceremony Mark “Forger” Stucky delivered the class address. Back in December the former NASA pilot flew a successful private mission to space in  Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity, one of its SpaceShipTwo planes. Stucky, a 1976 graduate of South, talked about his “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Future Planning”.

At the Central ceremony former Kansas State University  and NCAA Hall of Fame Football Coach Bill Snyder delivered the class address. The retired coach told the graduating seniors the best is yet to come.

Ell-Saline, Southeast of Saline, Salina Sacred Heart, and St. John’s Military School all said goodbye to their seniors last weekend.

While seniors are already finished with classes, as are students in many other area districts, all other USD 305 students are still counting down the days to the last day of school. Classes will dismiss for the summer later this week.