Salem High's Class of 2012 graduated Saturday morning the old-fashioned way: with a little pomp, circumstance and a lot of unrestrained joy.

In a year when a South Carolina mom was arrested during a graduation ceremony for cheering on her daughter and an Ohio high school has withheld a diploma from a graduate until he completes 20 hours of community service to make up for his family's rowdy applause, Salem passed on the too-cool-for-school decorum. The crowd of about 2,000 family members and friends who packed the bleachers at Grant Field clapped, cheered, screamed and blew horns and whistles.

Salem High Principal Maura Palmer thanked the crowd for honoring the students and acknowledged the guardians, parents and families.

“This ceremony represents an accomplishment for you as well as the graduates,” she said.

Palmer also took a moment to brag about the graduates mentioning that they had won $67,387 in local and community scholarships and $54,000 in Dollars for Scholars awards.

Palmer then made room for co-valedictorians Brandon Sousa, Jingyuan (Jenny) Zhang and class president Joseph Sweeney to deliver what were, arguably, three of the best student speeches of the 2012 graduation season.

Sousa, who will head off to Brandeis University in September, reminded the crowd and his fellow graduates that Salem High is a very classy place.

“Just look at the exterior, the sheer size, the rugged beauty,” he said. “It's breathtaking in a groovy '60s-kind-of-way.”

Sousa said students want the adventure of surviving a school that, like cartoon character Sponge Bob's house, has creaking floors, leaks and is harsh in the winter, brutal in the summer.

Sousa also credited Palmer and the Salem high faculty with making the school classy.

“Mr. (Jack) Brouse is retired but he keeps coming back to teach us,” said Sousa. “He's more important to SAT's than a No. 2 pencil.”

Sousa also said that Brouse's daughter, English teacher Amanda Hanover, is proof that genius is heredity.

“But the main thing that makes Salem High so classy is the Class of 2012,” said Sousa. “In short, we are awesome.”

Zhang, who will attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., this September and who has already racked up an impressive list of awards and achievements, said a guidance counselor had made her aware that there are about 2,000 other Jenny Zhangs, all with the same grades and credentials.

Zhang told her fellow graduates to always remember their roots.

“The world isn't ending,” she said. “We're just taking over.”

Sweeney said the Class of 2012 had a long list of stand -out students.

“As their class president, I take full credit for their accomplishments,” he laughed.

Sweeney, who has been accepted to the University of New Hampshire for September, told how as a child, a speech delay landed him in the Salem Early Education Development , S.E.E.D., Program for kids with learning disabilities.

“The S.E.E.D. program provided enough miracles for me so that I could attend Kindergarten at the Boy's and Girls Club,” he said. By third grade, Sweeney had caught up with his peers.

The story underscored Sweeney's point that it takes a village to get a class to graduation day, and Salem has been that village for the Class of 2012.

Superintendent Michael Delahanty had three hard acts to follow and when he got to the podium he warned the audience he was taking it down a notch.

He offered the graduates two pieces of advice: never refuse the offer of a breath mint and always be in tune to the beauty that surrounds them.

Salem School Board members Pamela Berry and Patricia Corbett handed out 391 diplomas and as soon as the students got the signal to move the tassels on their caps to the left side to signify they were officials graduates, a cheer went up and streamers and beach balls filled the air.

Assistant to the Dean Ruppy Hailey watched from the sidelines with clear pride in the Class on 2012.

“They are just a great group of kids,” he said. “I consider them friends.”

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Barbara Taormina may be reached at btaormina@newstote.com.