A purple sea of 360 students graduated from Oak Harbor High School on a warm summer evening Monday.

They queued up in the too-hot Student Union Building, snapping photos, chatting, hugging and waiting. Oak Harbor doesn’t allow its students to decorate their mortarboards, but many of the seniors got creative with leis made of flowers, folded dollar bills and even candy.

“Happy but kind of sad,” said senior Michael Laningham. “I’m finally done with school. I probably won’t see any of these people again.”

Finally, it was time for their teachers and principal to lead them through campus to the stadium. The home stands were packed with family and friends, their cameras ready. They clapped and hooted as the long stream of purple snaked its way to the seats assembled on the football turf.

When it came time to award diplomas, the students came in pairs down a ramp toward the crowd. Many worked that ramp like they were top models at a fashion show. They stopped at the bottom to hug, bow, give each other high-fives, hand jive or strike a pose for the cameras.

Principal Dwight Lundstrom described this class as a caring one. He said it was an especially poignant graduation, since his daughter is among the graduating class. He’s known many of her classmates since preschool.

By all accounts, this is an accomplished class with four students earning perfect 4.0 GPAs, two service academy appointments and a total of $4.2 million in scholarships awarded.

Sixty-six students earned GPAs of 3.5 or better. Next week, four students also will graduate from community college with associate degrees. Eighteen students enlisted in the military.

Senior Noelle Gasper, a student speaker who earned a 4.0, reminded her classmates that whatever happened in the past four years “we’re all wearing the same purple gown.” She ended her speech with a quote from the cult film “The Office” — which drew some laughter from her classmates: “May your hats fly as high as your dreams.”