A hero’s welcome greeted a retired Air Force fighter pilot who addressed his great-nephew’s graduating class at Baker High School Sunday afternoon.

As Superintendent Mark Witty read the military credentials of retired Col. Robert Harvey, a “Wahoo!” from the audience accompanied by a “Thank you, sir” brought an enthusiastic round of applause from the audience packed into Bulldog Memorial Stadium.

As Witty continued the introduction, he noted that Harvey serves on the Board of Save Our Heroes, a nonprofit organization that helps support and defend wrongfully accused and convicted members of the military.

That gained Harvey another round of applause.

And as the introduction was completed, the crowd rose to its feet in a standing ovation to welcome Harvey back to the high school where he graduated in 1973.

Turning the podium to face the graduates, Harvey expressed his appreciation for those attending the monumental day honoring their children and grandchildren.

“This is awesome,” he said. “All of you people being here — this is awesome.”

Before beginning his speech, Harvey told a story on himself from his high school days.

He said that during a visit to BHS on Saturday prior to graduation day, as he walked between the auditorium and the gymnasium he had a flashback.

“It was of a night when a young lady I was dating was in the auditorium, practicing for a play,” he said.

As he walked out of the auditorium, he was met by two others girls he was also dating. When the third girl walked out of the auditorium, his dating life took a sudden turn for the worse, he said.

That experience fit with one of the pieces of advice Harvey offered to graduates as they move to the next chapter of their lives: “Learn from the mistakes of others — like don’t have three girlfriends at one time.”

Taking a more serious tone, Harvey urged the graduates to set priorities. The first, he said, should be to focus on themselves.

“Your health: physical, mental and spiritual,” he said. “If you don’t have your health, you cannot focus on the rest of your life and daily activities become more challenging to get through.”

He then encouraged the students to make their family a priority and to treasure the good friends they make along the way.

Career should come third, he said.

“I encourage you to choose a job or career you will enjoy,” he said. “Once you have a job you enjoy, remember to keep family as a higher priority. No one ever dies wishing they had worked more.”

Harvey encouraged the graduates to not be discouraged by life’s circumstances, but instead to “deal with it.”

“Get up in the morning and take on each day,” he said. “And when times are rough, take on each day one day at a time.”

Harvey pointed to his service flying combat missions in Desert Storm to illustrate how he has learned to overcome stress in his life.

“I remember that here in America today, nobody is shooting at me,” he said.

In addition to learning from the mistakes of others — including not texting and driving — Harvey encouraged the students to also learn good things from others.

“Educate yourself, take charge of your life, put down the video game and pick up a book,” he said.

And he quoted the bunny “Thumper” from the Disney movie “Bambi” in encouraging the graduates to be kind to others: “If you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”

Lastly, Harvey encouraged members of the Class of 2017 to choose their friends and colleagues wisely.

“Good people are surrounded by other good people,” he said. “Be the person you want to be and keep the friends you want — good friends.”

Harvey also took the opportunity to step in for Principal Greg Mitchell to present his great-nephew, Austin DeVore, with his diploma during the ceremony.

In addressing their classmates, valedictorian Jared Miller and salutatorian Kourtney Lehman expressed appreciation to their parents and teachers for getting them through classes, extracurricular activities and finally to graduation day.

Kourtney said that in looking for the perfect words to describe her high school experience, she got a little help from a Charles Dickens’ novel titled “A Tale of Two Cities,” which begins “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …”

“But the cure for senioritis if finally here — graduation,” she said.

“May you all experience happiness and success,” she told her classmates.

She concluded her speech with the class motto: “Step aside as we rock the scene. We’re the class of 2017.”

Jared urged his classmates to find their passions and follow them like he is planning to do as a swimmer for South Dakota State this fall where he’ll be studying engineering.

“After all, we have been given the proper foundation to move forward,” he said. “Hard work and dedication is a pretty sure way to achieve success in your life.”