Wareham Middle School eighth graders were welcomed to their new high school home at Thursday’s promotion ceremony.

The 158 students were honored by Principal Peter Steedman, many of them individually called out for their excellent work in middle school.

“Every generation believes the current generation will not be ready for the challenges that await them,” Steedman told the class. He said the students can continue to prove these doubters wrong as they did through their time in middle school.

This class was the first to take all their state tests using Chromebooks, Steedman noted. He pointed out individual members of the class for specific traits, including an infectious smile, artistic talents, ukulele playing, winning a theater award in a high school festival and receiving honorable mention at a regional science fair.

This eighth-grade class had more than 20 students in the dual enrollment program taking honors classes this year. Many of the students were on high school athletic teams.

Steedman said the primary reason he feels confident about the future is that, “This class believes they can change the world.”

When Cindy Bliss, a humanities teacher at the middle school, asked her students earlier this year how they believed they could change the world, their answers showed a desire to be a positive influence, Steedman said.

For this project of world change, some students focused on stopping animal abuse and volunteered at animal shelters. Others started a letter writing campaign to Afghan civilians, some raised money for food pantries, began a website educating on climate change, led a cleanup of Onset Beach to address littering and pollution or proposed a Gay-Straight Alliance at the school, which will begin its pilot program next year.

Ten students were awarded the President’s Award for Educational Excellence, recognized for achieving a 95 percent cumulative GPA. Curtis Briggi received the Norman Sylvester Citizenship Award for exemplifying a “spirit of good citizenship and willingness to give unselfishly.”

The co-valedictorians each spoke in the crowded Jay Montague Gymnasium, recalling the good memories they made over the last four years.

Valedictorian Alexandre Lambert told the class to work to maintain the relationships they formed throughout middle school because they have had “a tremendous effect on each other’s lives.”

Valedictorian Samantha Scully talked about pranks, a pie making contest, raising turtles and her other favorite memories from middle school.

“There’s no need for learning to be a terrible thing,” Scully said.