Photos: Madison High School Convocation

Madison High School's Class of 2012 was welcomed into first grade by the Sept. 11 attacks -- an event the young students couldn't fully understand, but one that would change the world as they knew it forever.

Today, as those those students, now 17 and 18 years old, prepare for this week's graduation, "this is a very different world," Principal Mark Merrell told the seniors at Tuesday's convocation. "But it also offers you many more opportunities.

Three days before graduation, seniors, their parents, staff and some underclassmen celebrated opportunities the students had chased in their four years as Warhawks, and also those they'd yet to take in college and the years that follow.

Merrell, in what he called his last formal address to the seniors before their graduation on Friday, gave the graduates a few other pieces of advice: pursue your passion in life, "though it takes really hard work," gravitate toward those people you find inspiring, and, passing down advice he was given at his own graduation from Madison in 1979: don't be scared to be great.

By many accounts, the graduates showed over the course of the ceremony they weren't afraid to do just that. Dozens of graduates received awards, some of them bringing home several. They were awarded for being Nationa merit Finalists, joining U.S. Service Academies, their academic achievements and their accomplishments in music, drama, sports and theater.

SGA President Bethany Hartt,who reminded graduates to be fortunate for the opportunities they had in a community like Vienna, said it was rare in her time at Madison for a student to only be involved in one activity. But there will always be more opportunities for her and her fellow graduates to do something new, expand their horizons, and meet new people.

She urged underclassmen to do the same.

"We [should all] leave Madison better than when we come in," she said.

For photos from the ceremony, view the media player above.

Full list of awards:

PTSA "Make a Difference" Scholarship ($500):Diba Ghanei, Julia Horowitz, Zoey Jeong

Service Academies

• US Air Force Academy: Jonathan Graham and Eric Tutterow
• United States Military Academy: Nick Baetti
• Coast Guard: Taylor Peace

National Merit Finalists

• Brian Ammer
• Lindsay Brents
• William Brown
• Harold Hild
• Kailyn Hornbeck
• Bridget Jamison
• Zoey Jeong
• Lindsey Joost
• Andre Lindenfelser
• Jackson Simon

Khristin Kyllo "Dream Big" Memorial Scholarship ($5,000) , class of 2010: Kathy Longmire  

AP Literature Award: Lindsay Brents and Annie Pavlik

Hawk Talk Award: Julia Horowitz and Zoey Jeong.

Heritage Literary Magazine Award: Kristen Inglese, Becky Rosen and Catherine Bobalek.

Montpelier Yearbook Awards: Kate Campbell, Savannah Bentley and Ally Grasso.

Broadcast Journalism Awards: Brian Kelleher and Selena Garcia-Dubar

Career and Technical Education Award: Emma Steinhardt

Career and Technical Education Award: Viktor Foggo

Accounting and Business Law Award: Brendan Karp

Marketing Award: Kevin Zell

Family and Consumer Sciences Award: Kailyn Hornbeck and Alec Ostapovicz.

Art Department Award in Photography: Camillia Elci

Art Department Award in Studio Art: Sally Park

Art Department Award in 3-D Studio Art: Shaydah Naraghi

Art Department Computer Graphics award: Catherine Bobalek

Calculus and Statistics Award: Jonathan Paquette and Claire Walraven

Orchestra Award: Joseph Schaffer

Choral Award: Tess Ottinger

Technical Theater Award: Katie Davison

Drama Award: Andrew Barrat

Band Award: Kenny Bowden

Mad Scientist Awards: Sophie Swago and Josh Biderman

Social Studies Department Awards: Sallie Haines and Harold Hild

Fairfax County Youth Leadership Program: Ayesha Darab and Yasmine Hasanzadah

World Languages Department Award: Albert Condes de la Torre

Thomas Edison Awards: Joshua Nyden, Luke Burton and Yesenia Stevenson

Class Song: "When It's Time To Go" by Emma Moore

It's all a matter of minutes, a matter of days
A matter of days until I'm leaving here
It's all a matter of people, a matter of change
That says if it disappears
I can see my future rising as close as the sun
I can see my past in hiding as if it's already done

What if I want to stay
Just one more day
One more walk through the hallway
Before I make my way far from home

When I open my eyes the clouds are gone
Now the sun is in the sky
My Inhibitions are locked away
Because my ambitions are not shy
I want to change the world
And I don't know why
I can't do what I need here
I need to fly, fly

I'm ready to go
Leaving it all back home
Find new space to roam
And now I'm out on my own