Taking the next step

Life is a journey and a series of transitions.

Starting this weekend with Olathe High School’s graduation and next weekend’s Montrose High graduation, local students will be taking another significant step in life’s journey.

Transition is never easy, but taking that next step in life is almost always rewarding:

From the time when we traded diapers for underwear; took off the training wheels and rode for the first time without help; traded in the old bike for a driver’s license; changed mindset of thinking the opposite sex was “icky” to enjoying one’s first kiss; and our first graduation into the real world.

Making it through high school is never an easy task, socially and educationally. But graduation marks a certain accomplishment, an end to one journey and the beginning of the next.

Some will trade in the old high school textbooks for a set of new ones at college. Others may stay home and continue a family tradition such as farming or ranching.

These graduates are our future. Whether they want to be doctors, nurses, lawyers, entrepreneurs, executives, and journalists or even have political aspirations; what these local graduates do with their lives will make a difference in ours.

Regardless of their choice, the end of high school marks the first step into adulthood, when for the first time our local graduates will be out on their own. And it is to this, we wish them the best of luck on the rest of life’s journey.