The 10 most-in-demand jobs in 2010 didn’t even exist in 2004, and “you, the high school senior, may have 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38,” the speaker said.

That means teachers are “preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet (and) using technologies … in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet,” 1992 Columbia High School graduate and current U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Patrick Smith told 70 young people standing behind him.

So it should be good to know, Smith told Columbia’s Class of 2011 at its graduation ceremony Friday evening, that “your high school faculty has given you many tools for your toolbox” to succeed against any challenges.

With that, Columbia’s seniors, on their last trip “up the hill” to their high school as students, received their diplomas in an excitement-filled school auditorium Friday.

The valedictorian and salutatorian of the class, cousins Christopher and Emily Detz (Christopher was valedictorian) gave their commencement speeches together, alternating sections of a speech that exhorted their classmates to “move forward on each and every endeavor with the best of intentions, with your goals always aligned with what is best for you.

“Never compromise on your beliefs. … To settle for less is to sell yourself short.”

The Detzes led a class of 78 graduates, 70 of whom received their diplomas Friday night, a diverse class that has achieved academic and athletic success.

Emily Detz pitched for the Lancaster-Lebanon League-winning Columbia softball team, while Christopher was on the basketball team.

“I couldn’t ask for a better class,” Principal Virginia Babic said before the graduation ceremony, getting her own robes in place in the school gymnasium and smiling at the crimson-gown-wearing graduates.

“Everything they worked for, and they consciously worked towards it, they did with a purpose, and they’ve done what they needed to do to,” she said. “I think it’s a real night for them to celebrate.”

This was her seventh graduation, the principal added, and “it never gets old … and you always have a few butterflies in your stomach as you’re getting ready.”

The Detzes were two of 10 honor graduates in the class and two of four National Honor Society members, and both are among those in the class going on to four-year colleges.

Christopher will attend Kutztown University and Emily will go to Penn State’s main campus. Four others among the new graduates have confirmed military commitments.

Guest speaker Smith, who had his own cheering section in one area of the crowded but cool auditorium, emphasized that he has come to some “crossroads” after school, but that each time he had the background and confidence to go right after any challenges.

“Some of you may already have a plan in place … your career goals, where you will be in five or even 10 years,” Smith said. “For others, you may not know what you will be doing at the end of the summer.

“But that’s OK! Don’t be afraid to follow your instinct and do something totally new and different.”

Just as long as that “instinct,” he added, “allows you to pay your bills, particularly if your parents have already turned your old bedroom into your dad’s new man cave,” as the audience laughed.

Smith commands a 95-member unit in the dangerous field of explosive ordnance disposal, and is based in Virginia Beach, Va.

The ceremony was Columbia’s 139th annual commencement.