Gov. Beverly Perdue spoke this morning in Cary at the graduation ceremony for the State Highway Patrol's 125th basic patrol school class.

The 40 new highway patrol officers who graduated today underwent physical and classroom training for the past 30 weeks, reports Kevin Kiley.

Perdue, who talked about riding along with troopers on weekends when she was a state senator to learn about their jobs, called on the graduates to continue to serve their state.

"That's your core mission," she told the class. "You didn't come here because you wanted to be a hero or a 'shero,' you've actually come here to serve."