ALBANY — One by one, veterans stood among a dense, clapping crowd as the 2015 Berne-Knox-Westerlo commencement ceremony got started on June 27.

All 78 soon-to-be graduates sat in the middle of the stage, flanked by administrators and school-board members. Nine of the seniors, all men, stood to be recognized along with the older men in the crowd as School Board President Joan Adriance had requested from the podium. The nine graduates — 12 percent of the class — are entering the Marines, Navy, and Air Force.

“You are patriotic,” said Adriance. She said the class was a smart group, as well, with 20 percent of the class having an average of 90 or higher and 75 percent going off to college.

She called the class generous, too, referring to its senior prank of dressing in costume and stopping faculty members as they arrived at the school on a recent morning, asking for donations guised as a road tolls. The money was for a local girl, Emma Detlefsen, who is raising money for research on lymphedema, a disease she has.

“This class really is the kind of group that cares, so I wasn’t surprised,” Annette Landry, a guidance counselor, said of the large percentage of students joining the military.

After a handful of awards were tearfully given in memory of students and alumni who died, Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple took the stage and described a call he got about the collection organized by the seniors. He said he would match the $350 raised for research.

“I thought that was pretty indicative of the things we want to see,” said Apple, who is running for re-election and noted pranks reported to his office often involve crime.

To future senior pranksters, Apple said, “The bar’s been raised.”

In a sort of finale, Interim Principal Mary Summermatter’s staid words — “I declare you to be graduates of Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School with all rights, responsibilities, and privileges” — were met with the quick beat of “Shake it off” by Taylor Swift over the venue’s speakers.

About half of the class jumped and danced throughout the song in front of their seats on stage, while some sat above the group on classmates’ shoulders with arms raised high.

Rather than the beach balls and air horns of other student marks on the commencement ceremony, the dance appeared to have the consent of administrators who watched from the side stage.

When the dance was over, music teacher Coriellen Travis raised her baton and the whole room sang the district’s alma mater as the school band played.

A buffet of words

Much of the ceremony for Berne-Knox-Westerlo students was an outpouring of advice at a time when they were each bidding goodbye to their adolescence and casting off on rougher waters.

“Now that you’re graduating, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance,” Adriance told them in her speech, quoting from Wellesly English teacher David McCullough’s commencement address to the Wellesley High School Class of 2012.

Salutatorian Andrew Bub called on the words of great hockey players to tell his classmates that they shouldn’t try to change themselves but be the best they can. (See related story.)

Jim Craig, a goalkeeper for the United States against the Soviet Union during the Olympics in 1980, said “Don’t ever let your memories be bigger than your dreams,” Bub told the group.

“Don’t allow yourself to live in those memories,” he said. “This is our time. Now go out there and take it.

Thomas Fisher, the class’s valedictorian, started out his valedictory by greeting the crowd, and said, “We’ll see how it goes.”

Some people might look down on our little school on the mountain,” he said, but the school gave his class a lot.

“These teachers somehow managed to put up with our endless complaints,” he said, naming Audra Rys, Coriellen Travis, and Robert Bentley as some teachers for whom he was particularly grateful. (See related story.)

The display of gratitude and fondness for their shared past was turned into a challenge to his youthful peers, to make something of their fortunes.

“We always have this community to fall back on,” he said.

Fisher, who will be studying law at American University, ended with a quotation frequently attributed to President Abraham Lincoln: “Whatever you are, be a good one.”

The commencement address was delivered by social studies teacher James Lemire, who gave a salute he said was from his father, a command sergeant, to the nine students joining the military.

Awards and honors

Among the many awards and scholarships earned by students, a few special awards were given with a short story and in a person’s memory. (A full list of awards is on the next page.)

The scholarship from the Class of 1965 was given by Sandra Quay, on the 50th anniversary of her class’s graduation. The class was the last to attend high school in what is now the elementary building. Two of its alumni, Quay said, had grandchildren walking across the stage that day.

This year’s $250 scholarship was given in memory of Darlene (née Michaels) Kretzler to Shannon Quay. The student is selected based on her or his match with the career of the memorialized graduate of 1965. Kretzler worked at St. Claire’s Hospital for many years, and Quay is planning to attend Schenectady Community College to study nutrition, Sandra Quay said.

The Coons family took the stage to award the Patrick Arpei-Coons Vocational Award. Arpei-Coons was a young mechanic from the BKW Class of 2009 who was killed in a traffic accident.

His mother, Christine Coons, told about his work ethic and ambitious goals just out of high school.

“The truth is, you will never again know what it’s like to feel normal,” she said of no longer having her son alive.

She explained how, this year, she questioned whether the scholarship was a worthy way to honor her son, until she read Samuel Abbott’s application.

“Every single aspect of the winner’s packet feels like Patrick,” said Coons, listing the traits she noted — straight forward and genuine, impeccable work ethic, positive, and willing to help others.

“I believe I found the answer to my question,” she said. “‘Mom, it’s all good and you’re going in the right direction.’”

“What a tremendous and unexpected gift,” Coons said of the answer.

The Wyatt Spencer and Class of 2014 scholarship — $5,000 for books and tuition — was given to Lukus Becker and Caleigh-Shea Murphy, who demonstrated a stance against bullying and strong leadership.

“No other school in the region awards this kind of money,” Spencer’s father, James Spencer, said from the stage. “Come back and break out your checkbook and help us continue this for future graduates.”

Wyatt Spencer was a student who broke up fights and admonished other kids for bullying, said Kelley Hurst-Hess, one of the directors of the scholarship fund.

The final memorial scholarship was the newest. For the first time, the Kenneth White Memorial Scholarship was given to a student entering the field of social services. Haley Miller was its recipient.

At the time a kindergarten student at BKW, White was killed last December. His cousin, Tiffany VanAlstyne, has been arrested for his murder and his relatives have been vying for custody of two of his sisters in family court, where his aunt and parents were both deemed unfit to look after them.

The scholarship was presented by Michelle Fusco, president of Kenneth’s Army, an group organized through Facebook, and Carli Elble,  the membership chairwoman of the Parent-Teacher Association.

Elble said her daughter had class with Kenneth and called him a “sweet child.”