By Joe Rector
As I wrote last week, my grandson Madden graduated from high school. My compliments go to the administrative staff at Station Camp High School. Their efficiency made for an enjoyable ceremony that lasted little more than one hour. With the help of the Sumner County Sheriff’s Department, a crowd of more than one thousand folks quickly exited the parking lot and headed for various activities.
I attended 30 graduation ceremonies during my years as a teacher. This latest one was similar to those from years ago, and the senior class was, in many ways, like the first one I attended in 1975. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Position holders spoke, the same as in past years. The class president welcomed the families and faculty, and then the salutatorian and valedictorian for the class gave their speeches. All three had written speeches and practiced them multiple times. I’m sure some faculty person had rehearsed with them and reminded them to look at the audience. Yet when they rose and stood in front of an overflow crowd, all three students eyed the written speeches as if the lines on the paper would protect them from stage fright. When those teens dared to look up, they mumbled and stumbled through their lines. Finding the correct line on the paper copy of the speech sometimes led to seconds of excruciating silence. The “cream of this year’s crop” learned that sometimes the hardest thing in the world to do is to speak to a live audience.
The themes in each speech were the same: friendship, survival, maturity, and hard work. Remarks about the difficulty of life during those eighteen years caused me to smile. Yes, some of the worst events take place in high school, but these younglings will soon find out how much more difficult life can be. They’ll experience making decisions on their own, trying and failing, and changing courses as better pathways emerge. Handling college or a job will test their mettle. Plenty of lessons are waiting to be learned in the coming years.
One of the speakers commented on high school friends and how they fade away as life goes on. Few students who are close now will remain so in the next five or ten or fifty years. New people will enter these graduates’ lives, and to some, the surprise of losing a high school sweetheart will be equaled by the finding of a new, stronger, closer partner.
Some students will work for a while before deciding to continue their education. The military will be the perfect fit for a few, and college will be right for others. By and large, the majority will find their callings in some skilled vocation. They will prove that college is not for everyone. Being happy in the chosen work field is more important. The ACT or SAT is not a requirement for every person’s success or failure.
Growing up is hard. I fooled around in high school, and that made college more difficult. I wouldn’t have changed a thing I did back then; when I reached college, I worked harder than I’d ever worked, and the difference in my GPA from high school to college soared. Plenty of days, I was miserable and wished to be home in the comfort of family and friends, but I knew that my destiny was teaching English in high school, and that road could be traveled only by obtaining a degree. I hope that all graduating high school students, especially my grandson, discover what their callings are sooner rather than later.
More important things lie ahead for our young people. I hope they are willing to reach their goals and that they have the strength to change paths when a new one appears. Most of all, I hope that they will enjoy whatever course they choose and dedicate themselves to being the best possible in that area.
Yes, our high school students are to be commended for their achievements, but they should understand that so many higher, more spectacular things are coming in the years ahead.
