Tears mixed with laughter as the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School’s class of 2011 took the stage at their graduation Sunday afternoon with Can’t Go Back Now by The Weepies playing in the background. With parents, friends and teachers cheering them on and sharing in their tears, Domonique Aaron, Jessica Dupon, Sasha Iammarino, Brian Luce, Mattia Phaneuf, Erica Taylor and Hanna Vanderlaske received their diplomas along with scholarships, praise and gifts from their teachers and schoolmates.

“You represent the mission of the charter school,” charter school director told graduates as he stood behind a podium that was draped in a tie-dyed sheet. Mr. Moore called the school “an environment that models interdependence as the foundation of society.”

Following in the charter school’s tradition, each graduate received gifts from the school’s lower grades. The gifts were personal and ranged from books written by the students for a particular graduate to a calendar with the graduate’s face photoshopped behind the wheel of a series of fancy cars.

In addition to the gifts, a scholarship was given out to one of the graduates. The Lumina-Darrow Scholarship was awarded to Hannah Vanderlaske, who is now the third consecutive charter school senior to receive this scholarship. Options in Education, the nonprofit that founded the school, awarded each graduate $500 toward furthering their education either in university or out in the world. The graduates also received a Certificate of Congressional Recognition from Rep. William Keating. The school awarded each graduate a book and a specially-named award, personalized for individual achievements. In return, the graduates gave the school a gift of their own — tiles for the garden that spell out MVPCS.

In her speech, Ms. Vanderlaske, an aspiring writer, told the audience: “In this school I have truly learned what a community is.”

As they exited to Float On, by Modest Mouse their community cheered them on.