Like last year, LVHS held its annual graduation ceremony at the HOT Coliseum at 7 p.m. Wednesday June 3 with Carl Shamburger providing the organ music, and the eight class sponsors escorting the grads in with the Honor Graduates (Russell Bumpass, Leticia Guerrero, Jessica Hall, Courtney Heard, Jewelisha Jefferson, Jennifer Martinez, Will Samford, Lauren Shelton, Andrea Vargas, Rydell Walthall, and Brittany Williams) on the platform. 
   Class president Elisei Rusu gave the welcome and a reminder about the sanctity of the occasion to the crowd of more than a thousand, and Student Council vice president Leticia Guerrero led the pledges of allegiance.
   Next was the national anthem, sung by Mandi Garcia, the salutatory address by Jessica Hall, the valedictory address by Rydell Walthall (class treasurer with Brittany Williams as secretary), and the introduction of the Top Ten Percent by principal Sam Sexton, who also presented the senior class to Superintendent Dr. Sharon Shields for certification.
   The Board of Trustees assisted in awarding the diplomas to the 98 seniors (14 of whom are in the National Honor Society and 20 more honor graduates) who walked across the platform with only a few air horns interrupting the ceremony before Sexton's closing remarks, the school song, and closing recessional. Hundreds of relatives and friends joined and their loved ones outside for congrats and photos, then off to various locations for celebrating late into the night.
   The class motto was "When skills and intelligence combine, you get the Class of 2009," while the class flower was the sunflower, and the class color green. All 55 faculty and staff, along with the counselors and LVISD administration congratulate the Class of 2009 for its outstanding work over the past 13 years and exemplary behavior at the ceremony itself in wishing all the best as the former Pirates further their education or enter the work field; remember, "Once a Pirate, always a Pirate!"