LANGLEY — Christopher Turpen stood before a packed South Whidbey High School gymnasium.

The lights were dimmed, reflecting the bittersweet mood of South Whidbey’s graduation.

The stands and floor seating were full, leaving a dozen latecomers to stand in the back. Turpen, the senior class president and closing speaker, shared a revelation he had about his 124 graduating classmates while at a concert during Memorial Day weekend. He said while listening to the song “Rivers and Roads,” he realized his friends and classmates, some of whom he knew since elementary school, are departing in different directions.

The song opens, “A year from now, we’ll all be gone, all our friends will move away. They’re going to better places, but our friends will be gone away.”

He illustrated this point when he asked the graduates to raise their hands if they planned to leave the island after graduation.

More than 100 hands shot up.

Then he asked the students to keep their hands raised if they were leaving the state — about a fifth of the hands stayed raised. Then he asked if they were leaving the country — two hands were raised.

Then he asked if they were going to Georgia, where Turpen will attend Savannah School of Art and Design for a degree in graphic design.

His was the only hand raised.

The point of all those outstretched arms was that Whidbey would no longer hold them all in its embrace. But no matter where the 124 young men and women went, Whidbey would always be home.

“But we’re off to bigger and better things,” Turpen said. “I’m really gonna miss this place.”

South Whidbey’s Class of 2011 is one full of artists, actors, athletes, musicians, poets, readers, thinkers and doers. And the atmosphere at commencement Saturday reflected the graduates’ demeanor: reserved with punctuated excitement, in sync like the ebb and flow of the tides around South Whidbey.

It also reflected the deep pool of young talent on South Whidbey, as speeches were separated by a choral performance of “You Raise Me Up,” a performance of Corey Smith’s song “I’m Not Gonna Cry” by Tiffany Hoch, Ambria Prosch, Aren Mattens and Evan Mattens and a performance of the South Whidbey High School Jazz Ensemble.

One of the more extended punctuated moments of excitement came during the speech by Associated Student Body president Tyler “Chuck” Norris.

Norris lobbied for the gig, and he was selected by the faculty and staff at South Whidbey to speak.

He described Whidbey as a place “so wonderful even walk-on passengers have to pay to set foot on our beautiful grass.”

Norris, who will enroll at the University of Puget Sound, offered advice to Falcon parents about their students’ late-night activities.

No need to worry, he said. They were only hanging out at the grocery store.

“Ninety percent chance, moms and dads, that when your child says, ‘I’m going out,’ they’re going to the Goose — an all-night affair,” Norris said.

Norris also noted that he will present the school with an 18-foot-tall statue of a falcon to be placed in front of the school, a gift from the Class of 2011.

Then he asked the graduates to thank their friends, family and community gathered in the gym for two hours in a special way. He told the grads to point at them, make a heart shape with their pointed fingers and send it out toward them.

“Air. Stretch. Send.” Hundreds of arms again filled the air.

Andrea Berg, one of the school’s two valedictorians, characterized the Class of 2011 as a compassionate community in her speech. She will spend the next year traveling throughout Europe, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia before enrolling at Whitman University in the fall of 2012.

“We care about our futures and we care about each other,” Berg said.

The day of long goodbyes included a few from the top.

The graduation was a double farewell for District Superintendent Fred McCarthy, who will retire at the end of June. He thanked the students for representing the South Whidbey School District and South Whidbey for the past six years, and thanked SWHS principal Rod Merrell for his years of service.

The graduation was also a goodbye for Merrell, who resigned to become the principal at Mount Vernon High School. Assistant principal and athletic director John Patton was hired as the new principal at SWHS.

Merrell offered six lessons that had the ring and sting of truth mixed with humor.

He asked the graduates to consider having a few close friends versus having 600 Facebook friends. Merrell mentioned the recent scandal of Congressman Anthony Weiner as a cautionary tale for social media users.

He asked them to contribute to their community, wherever that may be. He pleaded for them to be kind. He recommended the graduates take care of themselves and be healthy.

And he implored them to let their, “freak flag fly” — to discover who they are and be comfortable with that person.

The crowd laughed when Merrell spoke about Justin Bieber, Facebook, “Jersey Shore,” dating, the “freshman 15” and Gary Busey’s philosophy that “the present is a gift; that’s why they call it the present.”

Finally, Merrell told the 124 graduates in their Falcon-blue caps and gowns to live in the moment.

“Don’t worry about the future too much,” Merrell said.

Seth Sobottka, who earlier stepped off the graduation stage and into the jazz band section in the back, was the class choice speaker. Sobottka will attend Bard College in Annandale, N.Y. to study music. He shared what Whidbey Island and South Whidbey meant to him and those around him, and encouraged his classmates to accept the challenges ahead.

“Let’s fly the nest and take on the world’s challenges,” Sobottka said.