PINETOWN — Hundreds gathered in Northside High School’s auditorium, as about 100 students graduated Saturday afternoon.

Northside High was the third of four Beaufort County schools to host graduation ceremonies this past weekend. The auditorium was packed almost to capacity.

“I know that in our futures, we will look back at Northside and be eternally grateful for all of our experiences and lessons here,” Tiffany Oliver said in her welcoming address.

Oliver said the class of 2017 earned $1.1 million in college scholarships, which is the highest of all high schools in the county.

This year’s valedictorian was Kody Jefferson, and the salutatorian spot went to Rachel Lang.

In her speech, Lang focused on nostalgia, quoting the lyrics from Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank our parents for their love and support, for tolerating all our teenage rebellions and the ones that will definitely come in the future … for celebrating our triumphs and giving us a shoulder to cry on in our defeats, for always treating us like superstars and taking pictures at every single moment,” Lang said. “We would also like to thank all teachers and staff at Northside for helping us along our journey the past four years. You have challenged us to work hard to reach our goals and our fullest potential in both athletics, academics, and in life.”

Jefferson spoke of how much time the recent graduates invested at Northside over the past four years. He said the school often felt like a second home because of all the time spent there.

“I’ve always heard adults say that high school flew by for them, and at first, I thought all y’all were crazy, but looking back at it now, it truly has flown by,” Jefferson said. “We as a class are about to step forward in a new chapter of our lives. We all have a choice on where to invest our time next.”