Families cheer on their graduating cadets Thursday at Air Force Academy’s Falcon Stadium

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Thursday wasn't exciting just for the 921 cadets graduating from the Air Force Academy; it also thrilled the thousands of loved ones cheering them on during the ceremony and celebrating their accomplishments.

Some cadets' families began arriving at Falcon Stadium since the gates opened at 6:30 a.m.; while that was three hours ahead of the ceremony, everyone had to go through Secret Service checkpoints to enter.

Once in the stadium, the families hurried to their seats to soak in the atmosphere and enjoy the graduation ceremony.

We spoke with Tonnette Vaughn, of Nashville, Tennessee about her son, a graduating cadet.

"It was quite challenging throughout his career," she said. "Just getting a stable routine, getting everything together he wanted to, adjusting to a rigid sort of format. It was quite difficult on both ends. I can't tell you how many times he wanted to give up. But through family support, his friends, people here, that's what got him through."

The Smith family, of Washington, D.C., said that their cadet leaned on his grandfather, Jerry, who was in the Academy's Class of 1962.

"We're really proud of him, and we're really excited," said father Jonathan Smith. "Our niece is starting this summer as well, here at the Academy."

A San Antonio family said their cadet's time at the Academy was emotionally tough on him.

"I think never being away from home, and initially getting here, being far away from home and not having any contact with family, was kind of a tough feeling for him at the beginning," said father Gene Garza. "But after that, he seemed to assimilate to everything."

Garza's wife, Rhonda, has high praise for the Academy.

"This is amazing, this entire campus is gorgeous," she said. "Everything -- the facilities, everybody's so nice, so hospitable. What an incredible Academy."

Cadet Abigail Spitler, of Dayton, Ohio, was relieved to navigate the graduation ceremony; she's recovering from surgery after a cadet tradition went wrong.

"Oh, my goodness," she explained. "I jumped into the water fountains after my last final, and broke my knee in six pieces. I had surgery last month, and I was like, there's no way this is going to keep me from walking across the stage."

Nearly 400 graduates plan to attend flight school, motivated by the aerial acrobatics performed by the Thunderbirds demonstration team -- but not Tracy Love, of Denver, who played football for the Falcons.

"I once wanted to fly but I fell in love with business," he said. "I'll be in acquisitions for the Air Force, contracting and buying things. I'm looking forward to that."

A cadet from Los Angeles, Andrew Liu, said that a lack of patience was his biggest challenge during the commencement exercise.

"I'm in Squadron 9 (out of 40), so my name was called pretty early," he said. "I got to shake the president's hand. That was a really surreal and amazing experience. I guess because I was called so early, the hard part was, like, waiting for everyone else. But I liked his speech. It was long, but I liked it."

Most family members said they spoke with their cadets at least once a week during their time at the Academy to help them with the challenges they faced - which included being sent home for a few months when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and forced the Academy to go to online instruction.

They now leave as officers -- second lieutenants -- with their service requirements or graduate school already planned.

KRDO is streaming the 2023 Air Force Academy Graduation here.