The sound of clanging guitars filled the auditorium on the day Belmont Secondary School’s Class of 2009 graduated.

The guitars were part of the Foo Fighters song, Times Like These, which students chose as a fitting anthem for when they walked off stage — diplomas in hand — and out into the so-called real world.

“I am a brand new day rising,” the song goes, “I’m a brand new sky to hang the stars upon tonight.”

About 400 Grade 12 students made up Belmont’s graduating class. The suburban school — which draws students from Colwood, Highland, Langford and Metchosin — is nestled behind the Westshore Town Centre and the big box stores along Langford Parkway.

Belmont has a student population of roughly 1,400. There’s been talk of building two new high schools to replace this one, which is, quite literally, held together with duct tape in spots.

But until that day comes, students will continue to jam these hallways between classes and take advantage of the school’s diverse course offerings, which include everything from arts and sciences to machine shop and cosmetology.

“People have to look beyond the exterior of the building,” said Pam Joyce, one of Belmont’s three vice principals, a few weeks before graduation.

When they do, she said, they’re likely to find a school teeming with spirit and a graduating class as well-prepared as any for the next step.

What follows is the story of two students as they prepare for graduation and life after Belmont.

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Sean Robertson lives with his big sister Danielle during the school year. His parents live about 40 minutes away in the Cowichan Valley, but Robertson moved here at the start of his Grade 9 year in order to play competitive hockey. Being away from home at such a young age wasn’t always easy, but he managed.

“It made me mature a little more than most [kids] because you don’t really have that home structure,” he said during an interview in the school’s cafeteria.

Robertson has played defence for the Victoria Grizzlies for the past two seasons, earning the Rookie of the Year title in his first year with the team. A self-described jock, he’s hoping to use his on-ice talent to land an off-ice scholarship at an American university. It hasn’t happened yet, but he’s hopeful. And if things don’t turn as planned, he’ll re-evaluate the plan and go from there.

Things used to be so simple. After graduation, most young people followed a familiar path: move out, get a job or go to school, meet someone to settle down with, have kids and the rest of their lives unfolded from there.

Today there are many paths. Robertson said that while half of the graduating class will likely advance directly into post-secondary studies, the other half will probably take a step back and do some travelling before deciding to go back to school.

“It’s make-or-break time for your life and I think everyone knows what they need to do to make sure they’re on the right foot,” he said.

The mood among his fellow graduates was a mix of excitement and anxiety, Robertson said.

“People are excited, no doubt about it, but I think people are also nervous, scared, not really sure what to expect. I bet lots of people, including myself, think if they’re ready for the next step, if they’ve done everything they can to be prepared to excel at what they want to do later in life,” he said.

Career concerns aside, young people today also face many of same social pressures past generations have. But Robertson said the increased understanding of how drugs and alcohol can harm a person’s body and their relationships with friends and loved ones have had an influence.

“People realize it’s not always about drinking,” he said. “It’s more about hanging out and having fun with your friends, because a year or two down the road you probably won’t have the same experience.”

Surprised to hear those words coming from the mouth of a promising young hockey player? Then wait till you hear what he had to say about young people and sex.

“People aren’t looking for that solid hook-up anymore. They want to find someone who really connects with them and cares for them,” he said.

Still, he admitted there is pressure to be in a relationship, and blushed just slightly when asked about his own.

“It’s good,” he said, smiling.

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Amy Loesch sipped iced tea on a Starbucks patio and basked in the warmth of the late-afternoon sun.

She moved here from Ottawa with her family and has gone to Belmont for Grades 11 and 12. The challenge of starting over and making new friends might have been tough, but Loesch doesn’t seem any the worse for it.

She waved at several people as they passed the patio, and was on a first-name basis with the women behind the coffee shop’s counter.

As graduation approached, Loesch said her emotions were a combination of nervous, scared and excited. “Graduation is the last chance to present yourself to fellow students and administrators and you want that to be good,” she said. “You don’t want to fall walking across the stage.”

Graduation, she said, also means she’s on her own.

“Once you’re out of high school, there’s no real plan, you have to make your own way,” Loesch said.

Her plan includes heading off to the University of Victoria in the fall to study science. After her first year, she’d like to transfer to the University of B.C. or a school in Ontario and major in human biology and humanities. She’d like to go to medical school, join the military (like her mother, father and stepfather), get posted overseas, work for Doctors Without Borders and then, well, that’s as far as she’s got.

“We’ll see if it pans out,” she said.

She agreed young people have more options than they might have had in the past, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

“That’s what makes it so challenging to decide what you want to do because you can do anything, like anything,” she said.

Most of the students in the graduating class, including Loesch and Robertson, were born in 1991. That was the year of the first Gulf War, the year four Los Angeles police officers were caught on tape beating a black man named Rodney King, the year a little band from Seattle named Nirvana released a record that changed popular music.

Of the challenges they now face, Loesch said the biggest is “finding yourself and keeping true to that.”

“We’re all young and crazy and fun, and we don’t want to lose that spark. I don’t want everyone to lose that spark,” she said.

*****

Pam Joyce had a megaphone and a smile.

The longtime English teacher, who assumed duties as vice-principal last December, organized students at a graduation ceremony rehearsal one Sunday afternoon. Students stood in two lines, preparing to enter the Farquhar Auditorium at the University of Victoria, where Belmont’s two graduation ceremonies were held June 6.

On Joyce’s command, the two lines began to move. But they were moving too quickly and needed to slow down.

“Take it a lower speed,” Joyce urged. “Pretend you’re going to class.”

Inside the auditorium, students took their seats on stage. It wasn’t a dress rehearsal, so most were casually dressed in shorts, hoodies and flip-flops.

There was a buzz in the room, even as the students took in the mundane details of where to line up when, how to enter and exit the room and whose cue to follow.

Joyce, who by this point had traded the megaphone for a microphone, told the students that after all the diplomas are handed out, they would be introduced as the graduating class of 2009.

She asked them not to talk during the ceremony or chew gum.

“You’re going to be fabulous,” she said finally.

mpearson@tc.canwest.com