There were lots of tears at AMY Northwest's graduation on Wednesday as the school bid farewell to its final eighth grade class from its St. Therese campus in East Mt. Airy.

Principal Marco Zanoni said the school must be completely out of its current building by the end of next week. It's working to move all of its items to the Levering School on Ridge Avenue in Roxborough, since that's where it will be located next year. Levering will then close.

He talked about how it's been a somewhat difficult year during his speech at graduation. It was back in August, he said, that he first heard rumblings about the potential move (which wasn't finalized until March).

"It was a real kick in the stomach," he said.

Zanoni said he knew that would mean there would be a lot of changes upcoming. The school's teachers, however, showed lots of grit—a theme the principal kept coming back to during his talk.

"As much emotion that is in this room—can you imagine the emotion these teachers are feeling?" he asked.

The school is now in the process of packing things up, and Zanoni joked that he can't step many places in the building without knocking in to something.

But he made sure to note that the school's students won't forget the building they've been going to for the past three years.

"You can empty your desk," he said. "You can clean the shelf and box it all up. And as I see each and every one of you doing this, I walk out and I know (you) are better prepared for tomorrow."