The meaningful moments come quickly during graduation week, whether you’re a student, a parent or a supportive community member.
Through a blizzard of banquets, ceremonies, parties and one more “last-ever” after another, I’m feeling emotional as the father of a graduate. But I’m also endlessly grateful for all the ways that the mentors and community members are also walking with our young people out into the world.
With events across our area this week, I can speak to what I experienced in Chehalis, most recently at their annual scholarship night. The string of memorial scholarships, some created as recently as this year, some dating back half a century, speak to the enduring support that we have for our young people.
People believe in them, want them to succeed, want them to thrive and perhaps consider coming back to build up the town that raised them and join the thriving tradition of giving back to it.
That begins with seeing, supporting, mentoring and celebrating our young people in the many ways they are already becoming great parts of their community.
That was on display last week at a combination awards event and talent show at W.F. West High School. I was so pleased at the many aspects of quality, excellence and goodness that the high school recognized in their “Academic Grammys and Bearcats Got Talent” assembly.
There were awards for academic excellence, of course. Book learning matters. But there were also plenty of ways that kids in the practical trades were recognized, including auto repair, carpentry, cooking, agriculture, sports medicine and sign-making. Kids fluent in multiple languages were given a shout-out. Musicians, writers, experts in skills like photography and many other important aspects of the creative life were recognized. And awards honored those who bring energy and smiles to their school, who show integrity and service to others, and who have entrepreneurial spark.
We see it in the athletic awards, where coaches from Little League to high school highlight the strong, accomplished sports stars that their once-young players have become through tireless practice and dedication.
I was also heartened by the annual baccalaureate ceremony, sponsored by the parents of the class of 2026, a student-led worship service with powerful words from a high school teacher and Young Life leader about the impact of faith in her life.
It was so wonderful to see people from a wide range of religious traditions (or none at all) gathering together. People who never find themselves at church together were side-by-side in the pews and next to each other singing and praying to God together. It was a powerful moment of depth to kick off graduation week, putting the seasons of life into eternal context.
The commencement ceremonies that see these young adults leave public school and embark formally into adulthood are important. They’re a crucial rite of passage — a time when adults can show by our words, actions and activities that our young people matter to use. We see them, we value them, we care about them enough to impart words of wisdom and exhortations to them. We have high hopes and high expectations.
We have supported them through childhood. We are excited to see them through these milestones into adulthood, with all of its challenges and opportunities. We’ll continue to be there for them as they move onward from the world we created for them into the life they’ll create for themselves.
We want them to become positive, productive people, so we mentor that as well. You see it in a wonderful tradition of the senior walk, when graduates in their caps and gowns visit students at the middle and elementary schools. The delighted looks on those little kids’ faces tell the whole story. They see a bright, positive future for themselves in this year’s graduates. They see goals, success — an aim for their still-forming aspirations. In just a few years they’ll be there themselves. It’s an upward cycle, a reinforcing circle of accomplishment. It’s beautiful.
Excellence is possible. We’ve seen it, we celebrate it, we lead our children in it, and we are grateful now for the ways they’ll build on what we’ve given them to give back to our community, our nation and our world. Onward!
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Brian Mittge is a community enthusiast who has written for The Chronicle since 2000 as a reporter, editor and columnist. He can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
