An exciting time of year

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One of my favorite parts of this time of year is graduation. There are graduations from high school, college, and even middle or elementary school. It’s a time to recognize students’ achievements and their leap into the next phase of life.

However, graduations aren’t exclusive to this time of year. Sure, students graduate from school in the winter as well, but that’s not what I’m getting at. In life, people graduate from things other than school. The father of three graduates into lawn master as he gets a new lawn mower. A local baseball team graduates to champions of their conference. OK, I might be stretching it, but you get the point. I think there are plenty of reasons to celebrate folks’ achievements year round.

As the editor of a newspaper, I would prefer to put something in the paper about an achievement someone had 100 times before putting some bad news in. All of it is important but I’m a softy and I enjoy promoting others’ successes over the alternative.

One of the cool things about this job is we get to be there for these moments. Me, not so much for graduation this year as I’m tagging along as a plus one to my wife’s work conference in Florida. However, as employees of a newspaper, we get to see the accomplishments of the wonderful young people in our area as well as the accomplishments of employees and public servants as well.

Another thing we get to highlight are the achievements of people in the community. About a month ago, the local chamber held their awards ceremony in which three individuals or businesses were recognized for their contributions to the community.

These are the things that make a small town so desirable. The willingness to help others, the close-knit relationships between the residents in the community and the ability of local business owners and residents to donate time and money to those in need.

That’s something I thought was so interesting to see when I came back to the area. I grew up in the country and to be honest, wasn’t very in-tune with the workings of the Colby, Abbotsford, Dorchester, Unity and Curtiss communities when I was growing up. I thought it would be cool to live in a big city and be a part of the hustle and bustle that the city presents. However, after living in a semi-big city in Oshkosh for a few years, I found that you’re truly just a cog in the big machine there. Your day-to-day success or failures aren’t recognized at nearly the same level as a small town environment.

Circling back to my original point, being a part of a small town allows things like graduations to be truly honored. So cherish this time of year and all times of year when we get the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of others.