In light of recent flooding disasters in Texas, the graduation of 169 seniors from Wimberley High School on Friday lifted the spirits of all.

The community had spent the past week dealing with the overall aftermath of a tragedy that left their community with 350 destroyed homes and nine people dead and ten still missing.

The seniors at Wimberley High School decided to make a difference in their final days as high school students. After cancelling their senior class trip, the students channeled the $5000 that was intended for the trip and donated it to the community for flood relief. In addition, they turned their campus into a shelter for those who has lost their homes and were in need of a place to stay.

KEYE- TV reported that Senior Class President, Henry Wollan, gave a commencement speech naming the graduating class “the most generous class to pass through these halls,” and that “shoveling mud, moving debris, trash, and furniture” was what he knew his fellow classmates had been busy with.

Despite students losing their own homes and having to alter their lives the way they once knew it, the graduation ceremony was one full of emotion and positivity. Gathered together inside the Strahan Coliseum in San Marcos, TX, the Wimberley Class of 2015 acknowledged the happenings in their community and used it as an opportunity to maintain an optimistic mindset moving forward.

Follow Cassi Pollock on Twitter @cassi_pollock.