New Technology students looked to the words of Ferris Bueller, the Beastie Boys, and Lady Gaga for inspiration as they ended four years of high school Wednesday night.

Student speakers outnumbered the adult ones, with seven delivering three-minute speeches as onlookers from the bleachers held up posters and bright blue and purple balloons to cheer on the 14th graduating class of New Tech.

Emily Starbuck, one of the class’s four valedictorian speakers, spent only her last year at New Tech, but she took to its off-beat culture right away.

“New Tech’s thing is be whoever you want and not be judged,” she said before the ceremony, in lime green sunglasses and fire-red hair that stood out later, as she faced her fellow graduates on the stage to say, “Don’t be afraid to be strange.”

She ended her speech with the Vulcan salute and sage advice from a different galaxy: “Live long and prosper.”