Graduation is an event usually associated with May and June, but it was no less sweet in August for a group of 45 students who received their high school diplomas on Thursday.

One student from Smithfield High School joined 17 from King’s Fork High School, 11 from Lakeland High School and 16 from Nansemond River High School in a special ceremony at King’s Fork that featured pomp and circumstance similar to what the spring graduates received without the long wait to cross the stage, the overcrowded gymnasiums or the common “What are you going to do this summer?” queries.

For these students, that question has already been answered. Summer was for finishing high school and receiving their diplomas. What happens next is the big question, and there are probably 45 different answers — or at least variations of answers — to that question.

Some hope to go to college, some to trade school, some into the military and some on to jobs. Their broad answers to “What happens next?” are pretty much the same as the answers given by the springtime graduation cohort.

Like the traditional graduates, these summer-school graduates should be proud of their accomplishment and can step out with confidence into the next phase of their lives, perhaps with a little relief that high school is finally over.

We wish them the best of luck — and a good (though brief) summer vacation.