Just before Easton's seniors tossed their caps Thursday night, class president Ryan Walsh offered one of the essential truths of high school.

"What's absurd to most people are the greatest memories we're going to have," he told his classmates, gathered at Stabler Arena for Easton Area High School's 156th commencement service.

Six hundred eighty students took home diplomas at the service, which found the class of 2012 reflecting on both the silly and serious aspects of high school.

For example, there was speaker Eric Ritter getting laughs by mentioning "the origins of 'bombthreat Tuesdays'…the lockdowns during the 'Dairy Queen robberies,'" and quickly seguing into memories of school pride and dedicated teachers.

And there was his classmate Robert Moran, talking about how paying to go to the prom "was like balancing the school budget" before thanking all the parents in the audience.

Salutatorian Philip Watters told the story of how his father once took a road trip from New Jersey to California and returned with amazing stories of running from bears and sleeping under the stars

"By staying focused, dad was able to have an awesome trip," Watters said, but added that if his dad hadn't focused, and had stopped his trip early, he'd have less stories to tell. "Don’t stop at Pittsburgh," Watters told his classmaters. "Make your dreams come true."

Watters' GPA was second only to his twin sister Noelle's, the class valedictorian.

"It was a race to the finish for two exceptional siblings," junior and senior Principal Michael Koch said of the twins, noting that their averages were seperated by "hundredths of a point."