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Editorial

As it does every year, graduation season has snuck up on us, and in no coincidence, this year, it coincides with the election season as well.

The busiest night of graduation will be Tuesday, May 24 with five schools from Shelby County holding ceremonies that night.

Oddly enough, that will overlap with the Primary Election, also scheduled for May 24.

That correlation is too obvious to not highlight, as the class of 2022 prepares to tackle the real world, and boy are they ready.

The world is wide open to the taking for this year’s seniors to jump straight into the workforce or go to college, get a degree and make a difference four years from now.

This year’s graduating class has been through one of the most interesting times in modern history with COVID-19 striking while they were in the second semester of their sophomore year.

With that, this year’s group has learned to expect the unexpected.

In the last four years, they have truly encompassed the circle that has been COVID by starting normally as freshmen, dealing with the unexpected as sophomores, bouncing back to tackle adversity as juniors and going on to return to normal as seniors.

Now, as they prepare to tackle college and the real world, they’ve got more real-life experience than the majority of us had coming out of high school.

They’ve seen how drastically things can go wrong, but they’ve also seen how to respond to difficult times.

If there is one thing the real world is, it’s a rollercoaster. There will be plenty of ups and downs, maybe even a few free falls, but how you respond is the most important aspect. This year’s senior class knows exactly how to respond.

To know what all is being done to prepare these students for life now, especially after the last two years, it’s almost a relief to feel like we’re in good hands.

To the class of 2022, be excited as you embark on this next journey in life, but most importantly, continue to change the world and show us your resiliency.