The 147 graduates of Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School received words of wisdom from the stories of Dr.Seuss, quotes from Kurt Vonnegut and the speech of a young Wareham girl during their commencement ceremony Sunday afternoon.

“I remember coming to Upper Cape as a scared freshman who just wanted to fit in. My goal was not to become the best, but to become my best,” said Wareham resident Melissa Giannelli, during her speech to her fellow graduates.

Giannelli, a carpentry student, was named the outstanding vocational student of the year at Upper Cape. She is headed to Savannah College of Art in Savannah, Georgia to study interior design. Giannelli was a dual Upper Cape/Cape Cod Community College student, as well as captain of the cheerleading squad and an employee at the Wing Cabinet Company in Pocasset.

Of the 147 graduates, 47 were from Wareham, the town with the largest group of graduates from the school which draws students from Wareham, Bourne, Marion, Sandwich and Falmouth.

Giannelli evoked the words of her brother when she said, “courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to not let fear paralyze you.”

“My last bit of advice is that this isn’t the end. This chapter of our lives may be ending but the story is only beginning,” Giannelli said. “Live your life to the fullest and never let complications or struggles bring you down.”

Upper Cape Superintendent Robert Dutch shared some lessons from the books of Massachusetts native Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, in his speech to the graduates and their gathered families and friends.

He spoke about the importance of trying different things as in “Sam I Am,” the power of caring and trying again in “The Lorax” and the ability to accept things you can’t control in “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.”

Upper Cape Principal Richard Foget also kept his lessons literary when he spoke about the keys to being a good writer, as professed by author Kurt Vonnegut.

“Only you have the ability to write your own story,” he said. “When you write it, don’t leave anything out and make it a good story.”