The Everett High School Class of 2010 faces tremendous challenges as the young people set forth in this new chapter in the continuing story of their lives.
They are going off to college, into the armed forces or into the workplace.
Everything is about challenges for these graduates – and the challenges have never been greater in the modern era.
Those going off to college or university face enormous tuition bills and living expenses that strain their ability to pay as well as their parents.
Those going into the armed forces face the possibility of danger and combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, and so their decision is a weighty one.
Entering the workplace at a time when there are virtually no jobs available and very few new jobs being created, makes that effort especially frustrating.
The Class of 2010 comes out of the high school experience with their backs against the wall.
However, those of us who have been through many trials and tribulations in our own lives since leaving high school to go down the primrose path of our own lives understand this: with hard work and faith and with a belief in yourself, everything you want out of your life can be achieved.
Success stories for this year’s Class of 2010 are abundant.
Many of the graduates excelled academically and athletically, artistically and gained personal success as well as good citizens doing the right thing.
About $150,000 in scholarship money went to those graduates who excelled academically.
Superintendent of Schools Fred Foresteire told us he wished that number were $1.5 million instead of $150,000.
“So many of these kids deserve so much,” he said.
The Class of 2010 face some adversity just starting out.
But the real mark of success is to overcome the adversity and to get what you seek out of your life.
It won’t be as easy for these kids as for classes in the past but this is America – where everyone has the opportunity to climb up and out and to carve out a good life for themselves.
This nation is all about opportunity – and these hardworking, intelligent Everett High School graduates have the right stuff to succeed.
We wish them the best – and to their proud parents – congratulations.
And to Fred Foresteire and his staff for their efforts to make graduation so special for these kids – a thank you once again for a job very well done.