Forum Editorial: Congratulations graduates!

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It’s Graduation Season in Nodaway and Worth counties.

During the first three weekends of May, university and high school graduates have and will walk across the stage — and start on something brand new on the other side.

In many ways, graduation is the last milestone we have marking adulthood: We began on one side of the stage as one person and became someone else on the way to the far side.

So for those who have already walked across a stage or two, Graduation Season can’t help but be filled with nostalgia and high hopes for those who are on the cusp of creating brand new lives for themselves.

Whether deciding to go off to college for more education, joining the workforce, serving their country, starting a family or throwing caution to the wind and traveling the world, the newly minted tassel-turners are the ones deciding.

There is no doubt that each teacher, administrator, professor and staff member at all of our local school districts and colleges have put in hours upon hours of care, concern and labor into these young people with the hope they will be able to make those decisions, accomplish their dreams and live their lives to the fullest.

While many of us had it easier in so many ways, kids these days are asked to grow up faster than ever before, and expected never to make mistakes. When they inevitably do make mistakes, social media is waiting to let everyone know about it.

The Class of 2025, in both college and high school, graduates into a complicated world. In our coverage here at The Forum, we get to know many students as they go through school — highlighting their successes and seeing how they deal with and bounce back from their disappointments.

We wish them all the best as they decide what comes next, but we’re also confident they’ll be able to handle whatever they encounter: No one is better prepared for what awaits at the other end of the stage than the bright young men and women who are walking across it this month.

Congratulations, graduates!