filled the air at T. C. Williams Senior High Schools  graduation last Friday  at George Mason Universitys Patriot Center.  From the opening processional throughout the three-hour ceremony friends and relatives armed with banners, flowers and cameras anxiously packed the stands and cheered the more than 500 graduates as they received their diplomas.

Keynote speaker Coach Ivan Thomas, who this year led the Titans Basketball team to a state championship, seemed to sum up the mood of the evening with his final declaration in his speech to the 2008 class: Its your time now.  Thomas urged the graduates to write out their goals and to review them daily. He joked and told the audience that he posts his goals on his bathroom mirror.

Wishing the graduates success in life, Coach Thomas, along with speakers Dr. William Symons, Interim Superintendent of Schools, T. C. Principal Dr. Mel Riddle and class valedictorians Katherine Wolfe and Rebecca Newsham, encouraged the class to follow their passions and to find their gifts and their purposes in life.

Photo essay by Laura Sikes