Nearly 150 students, approximately one-third from Wareham, graduated with the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School's class of 2013 on Sunday, June 2.

"You would not be the individuals you are today had you not chosen to come to Upper Cape Tech," Principal Roger Forget told the students, and after listing the accomplishments of several of the school's students -- winning awards at science fairs, becoming Eagle Scouts, captaining the school's Superbowl champion football team -- he rhetorically asked whether the students thought they'd have achieved those accomplishments if it had not been for attending Upper Cape.

"Remember, graduates," he continued, "never forget where you came from."

The thought was not lost on Wareham student David Picard, who was named "outstanding vocational technical student of the year."

"Coming to Upper Cape Tech may have been the best decision of my academic career," Picard told his fellow students.

Despite entering the school in his junior year, Picard said he was never made to feel "like an outsider."

"Always remember where you've been," he advised the class of 2013, "as it will help you lead to where you're going."

Picard, who studied health careers at Upper Cape, plans to attend Springfield College to study to become a physicians' assistant. He current works as a certified nursing assistant at Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation at Forestview in Wareham.

Alexander Lake, a carpentry student from Falmouth, was the class of 2013's valedictorian. In his address to his classmates, he aptly compared their lives to a building.

"Our family, teachers, and friends have supported us, just like the exterior braces of a building," Lake noted.

Upper Cape Tech Superintendent Robert Dutch had sound advice for the outgoing class.

"At the end of the day." he said, "it won't be what you take, but what you give."

Wareham Week will update this story with a list of the graduates and their fields of study.