Nothing was going to stop McKinley "Mac" Murry from walking across that stage Wednesday night.

Not Down syndrome. Not Crohn's disease. Nor Grave's disease. Not his arthritis, nor even the bunions that made every step up to the Calvary Church stage a painful challenge.

No, the Manheim Township High School senior was determined to become the third generation of the Murry family to earn a Manheim Township diploma.

When he clasped the sheepskin to his chest and embraced his father in a bearhug, Mac accomplished something even more significant: He became the first student with Down syndrome ever to graduate from the school.

And he did it the hard way, earning honors for maintaining an academic average of 93 percent or better.

"It's just a mother's dream," Mac's mother, Sue Murry, said after the often-boisterous ceremony, where 410 seniors received diplomas.

"Christmas, birthdays, weddings and anything good — this just tops it. It's just the best. There are no words to describe it."

Mac's father, school board member William Murry, had the honor of handing his son his diploma as fellow graduates Ashley Rosenkrans and Lauren Nonnenmocher helped Mac onto the stage.

The two students have been at Mac's side since all three were first-graders, Mrs. Murry said. Support like that from students, along with caring teachers and administrators willing to meet Mac's needs, helped him achieve his goal of graduating, she said.

"That school district was just phenomenal. They saw beyond the Down's and his speech problems and other problems. He was never 'the Down syndrome kid.' He was always Mac."

Graduating felt "fabulous," Mac said after the ceremony, which included presentations by five graduating seniors and a tribute to outgoing superintendent Kevin Singer.

Whitney Weinstein, Emily Webber, Amy Hess, Matthew Shea and Drigan Lee urged their fellow graduates to avoid stereotypes and impersonal, high-tech exchanges and find their true identities.

Singer, who will leave the district July 1 to take the superintendent's post in Topeka, Kan., recalled how his first year with the district in 2004 was the graduates' freshman year.

"What a ride we've had," he told the seniors. "In the midst of having your school literally torn down and rebuilt around you, you excelled to the highest levels of competition in the storied history of this great school.

"What's going to slow you down now? … My guess is whatever the task at hand, you'll have one reply: 'Bring it on.' "

School board president Hannah Bartges praised Singer for his role in the $83 million high school renovation and construction project.

Singer sketched out ideas — often on napkins — for the new gymnasium, classroom wing and cafeteria atrium and came to know the location of every door and window in the project, she said.

"The things that really excite us in the high school began with his vision," Bartges said. "Our beautiful, functional high school is (Singer's) legacy."

As its gift to the school, the Class of 2008 plans to create a time capsule to be embedded in the new facility for future students to discover. It also donated money for the painting of murals in the new cafeteria.

Singer thanked the graduates and school board members for "four of the best years we could have ever imagined," prompting a standing ovation.

Mac Murry received no such public applause, but many people congratulated him in the foyer of Calvary Church after the ceremony.

"It couldn't get any better than this," Mrs. Murry said. "It was wonderful when he was born, and it just keeps getting better."

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com