Beach balls flew, air horns sounded, the band played "Pomp and Circumstance," and 178 Wareham High School graduates closed one chapter of their lives and readied for the next.

"I urge you not to be followers," Salutatorian Tracey Perez said to her fellow graduates, who were seated on Spillane Field while loved ones watched and cheered from the bleachers. "Be leaders. We have enough sheep in the world."

After returning a beach ball to the excited grads, Wareham High School Principal Patrick Clark offered some advice to the class of 2010.

"Be passionately enthusiastic," Clark said as the ball moved through the air. "Nothing has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm." It was Clark's last Viking graduation. He will begin a position with Barnstable Public Schools in July.

In addition to the graduation necessity, "Pomp and Circumstance," the Wareham High School band played a couple of pieces from "Star Wars," to the delight of some keen-eared listeners.

"We were bored with playing ‘Pomp and Circumstance' 7,000 times, so we decided to throw some flavor in there," said Band Director Jayson Newell.

Cheers and tears were shared as graduates collected their diplomas. They gleefully threw their caps into the air as the band played "The Imperial March," Darth Vader's theme, with Newell conducting with a light saber.

Though smiling and excited, graduates had mixed emotions about this time of transition.

Graduate Jessica Dennis said she felt a little bit sad that high school was over with, "but everyone's got to do it. Start a new chapter." Dennis will major in biology and pre-med at Simmons College.

"It feels surreal, like something that you've always known was going to happen, but you didn't think would happen to you," said Lisa Cooney, who will attend UMass Amherst, majoring in English.

As the grads filtered off the field, meeting up with family members and hugging and congratulating their peers, Class of 2010 President Chris Brown articulated what many were likely feeling: "I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends to graduate with."