Twenty-four graduates donned cap and gown at Friday's graduation ceremony in Vita.

Principal Peter Osadchuk says even though this year's class was smaller than normal, it was a diverse group of students.

"We've got some really strong academic students," he says. "We've got some excellent athletes that are going on to play sports at the college level, a number of kids getting some entrance scholarships from three of the universities in Manitoba."

Osadchuk says about one-third of the class plans to head to post-secondary school this fall.

Osadchuk says there are five things that stand out about this class. He notes his fondest memory is their success on the basketball court. More than half of the class played basketball and helped bring five zone banners and one provincial banner to the school.

"In the fifty years of Shevchenko School, we've never seen a basketball banner till four years ago," he says.

Another highlight was their performance on stage. Osadchuk says a few of the grads are amazing actors and will be sadly missed for their drama skills.

Also, Osadchuk says their school takes part in the month-long Out Of The Blue campaign. It is a mental health awareness initiative and Osadchuk says a number of the grade 12 students were instrumental the entire time they were in high school.

Another highlight was the social justice committee which spent volunteer hours raising money for different causes.

And finally, he says a number of their grads participated in Reach For The Top and will be hard to replace.

Osadchuk says it has been wonderful watching this class grow over the years. Of the 24 students, 14 of them started Kindergarten together. He notes this class has done a great job of making newcomers fit in and feel welcomed.

This year's Valedictorians were Allyssa Gawronsky and Megan Wiebe who were voted in by their peers.