Among them was 19-year-old Josh Looney, who spent his senior year living in a fifth-wheel trailer parked on the driveway. His parents have since built a home three miles outside of town. Looney has purchased the lot where his grandparents' home once stood, and plans someday to build his own home there.

But first he plans to take a year off and help rebuild his community before taking a two-year internship at a big equipment company where he will train as a machine diesel technician.

Looney said it was "pretty cool" to have Bush speak at graduation. More than 1,000 people crowded into the rebuilt school auditorium for the event.

"Not a lot of people could say the president spoke and gave their commencement speech," Looney said as he stood in the reception line greeting well-wishers. "His speech was good -- he hit the nail right on the head."

Debbie Allison watched her son, Lane, give the valedictorian address. She said he felt honored to speak as valedictorian in front of the president.

"It did add to it," Debbie Allison said of the president's visit. "I was afraid it would be a distraction. It went as well as it could be done."

In his address, Lane Allison told the standing-room-only crowd that today was their day: "We are not here to dwell in the past." He then thanked the president for being at the graduation.

"We will remember and cherish this moment for the rest of our lives," he told Bush.

Jayvid Guyette, 18, said it was "definitely an honor" to have the president come to his graduation.

"It was very unnerving, but really exciting," Guyette said.

But Lisa Waters was not impressed that Bush was the one who handed her son, Logan, his diploma. Several of her family members were not able to come to the graduation because the event was rescheduled to accommodate the president.

"I am one of the few people who was hesitant about his coming, especially on the anniversary of the tornado," Waters said of Bush's visit. "They should have had their own day."

But she quickly added the presidential address was great for Greensburg, and great for the national attention it received.

The day was especially sweet for Suleenia Charlton as she watched her daughter, Kasha, graduate. Her family was thrown 150 from their home 150 by the tornado. Suleenia Charlton spent five days in the hospital with a broken back, broken rib and broken neck. Her fiance spent 38 days in the hospital unconscious with a broken back and neck and a collapsed lung. Another daughter was temporarily blinded by the debris from the tornado.

But the mother was all smiles a year later as she waited in the reception line to congratulate the graduates. Family members have recovered from their injuries and are now back in a new home they have built.

"I think the president coming put like a closure to the year," Charlton said. "We have done good."