Tuesday afternoon was bittersweet for Britney Szeto.

As the Joshua Cowell Student Council Activities Commissioner, the memories that she’s made during her formative years have been plentiful – the friendships and the fun and the milestones will all be things that she’ll carry with her for the rest of her days and be things that she’ll miss when she moves on to Manteca High next year.

But with her elementary school career ending in minutes, it was also a time for celebration – a ceremonial turning of the page as Szeto and her fellow Joshua Cowell classmates move from one book to another.

And she knows exactly who helped her and the rest of the Class of 2013 get to where they stood on Tuesday.

“Without the teachers that we had, we wouldn’t have had many of the experiences that we enjoyed,” she said. “I’m always going to value learning and education, and I’m happy that I’m moving on but I’m sad that I’m leaving.

“I think that I left a positive mark on the school. It’s a place that I’m going to miss.”

Ivan Rivas – who agreed with Szeto’s sentiment about Tuesday being bittersweet – led the class in the Pledge of Allegiance, while a handful of students – Kahailyn Hodges, Rheanne Emnace, Joseph Goodman, Rivas, Jamie Sumner, Mikayla Bongi, Adam Christensen and Vanessa Guerrero – addressed their fellow graduates about the bright futures ahead of all of them.