Congrats Graduates!

Sunday was graduation day for many schools in the state, including Mason City. This is always an emotional day for not only graduates but their parents, families, and school staff who have helped these young people reach the end of their high school careers. Each graduate has had their own obstacles to overcome and wouldn’t have made it without so much support from others.

While many were applauded for the awards and achievements they reached, some were not recognized at all, other than getting their diploma. I reflected on that a bit as my role at graduation was to help organize graduates before commencement and one of the seniors in my group was a young man who I had worked with a lot in 5th and 6th grades and honestly was one of the most challenging students we had to work with. I had a very brief conversation with him and congratulated him on this achievement. If I would have predicted this young man’s future in 5th grade, it is doubtful I would have seen him as graduating from high school. However, he is a young man who found a calling in the trades and is going on to bigger and better things. He was one of those graduates not recognized for any awards or scholarships, but was probably one of the biggest winners of today. Congrats to him, his family, and his teachers who never quit on him and provided the support needed to reach this point.

This was an emotional graduation personally as close to 20 graduates played volleyball and/or basketball for me and it was also my last official event in the MCHS gym. So many memories with this group and so proud of each of them and the journies they have completed. One of my favorite phrases is “onward and upward” and this is so true for all of our graduates. They have completed an important phase in their lives and it is time to move on to the next step and even bigger and better things-definitely an exciting and a bit scary time for each young person! There will be many challenges ahead but if they face them head on with the right attitude, anything can be achieved.

Upon further review-onward and upward seems like sound advice for me personally, considering what is to come…. 😀 What do you have in your life that you can move “onward and upward” to like our graduates? There might be some fear as to what’s to come but the possibilities are endless. I hope you will challenge yourself to think about what is next and continue to keep your life moving forward. Have a great week!

Coach K