MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon Academy Class of 2011 left their commencement ceremony determined to live up to their class motto: “We are not defined by our trials, but how we face them.”
That motto served as the main theme for the graduation exercises held Sunday in the school gym.
Following the invocation by senior Tyler Lehman, vocalist Aleen Flores urged her classmates to “Keep the Dream Alive.”
“Don’t let it die,” she sang. “Never give up. Don’t give up on yourself [through life’s trials]. You’ve got to keep the faith.”
The commencement address by Pastor Mike Stevenson urged the soon-to-be graduates to hold on and be tenacious in a global society which may consider them to be dangerous.


