VALPARAISO | "Let's go out with class and distinction."

That was Principal Patrick Weil's final call to the Valparaiso High School class of 2008 before leading the green- and white-clad students into Tuesday night's commencement ceremonies.

Weil, who resigned one week earlier, received two standing ovations and other rounds of applause during the event.

The four class officers said Weil stood out above others for recognition at Tuesday's ceremonies. They presented him with a plaque thanking him for "outstanding contributions to Valparaiso High School."

Student speaker Mike Barton also thanked Weil, comparing Weil's tenure at the school to a supernova: "brilliant, beautiful and tragically short-lived."

At last week's School Board meeting, Weil took supporters by surprise by resigning moments before anticipated action on his contract by the board. Whatever conflicts there may have been between the district administration and board on one side and Weil on the other were not explained.

"I'm going to miss him," graduate Justin Usher said of Weil. "He was a good principal. He came at a hard time."

Usher was referring to the knife attack upon a class of students just weeks after Weil became principal in November 2004.

Graduate Ajay Major said before the ceremony that the circumstances of Weil's departure were sad and disheartening.

"I wish the best for him," Major said.

Weil, adhering to his own advice, praised the "outstanding" class he had moved through four years at the school with.

"They're a great group of kids," Weil said. "The community can be proud of them."