Congratulations, Grads: Turning the page to life’s next chapter

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” 

—Marie Curie

Few graduating classes, at whatever level of education, have had such a challenging and unusual final year. Whether seniors in high school or college, or eighth graders, this last year at their schools has been so limiting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And for them, it happened just at the time that so many of them had become both comfortable in and knowledgeable about their surroundings, ready to dive deep into whatever new subject or activity has caught their curiosity and interest. 

But, they surely used their creativity, as did all those in their support system, to find all they ways they could to make the most of a tough situation. After all, a big part of their mission had to be staying safe through a health crisis, not only learning as much as they could academically during their last year. The life lessons they learned by managing the threat of a pandemic will give them a kind of strength as they move on in life that they wouldn’t have gained in any other situation. If they’d had a choice, of course, they may have passed on that opportunity for personal growth. But life doesn’t always give us choices, and that is a lesson hard learned no matter a person’s age. They have had to learn it early in their lives.

So kudos to them for coming through it, and to their parents, teachers and administrators for helping them do that.  They should all be proud of their efforts, knowing they have overcome obstacles that few other generations have faced, and come through it with a worthy achievement. They finished their coursework and moved on to the next level in life! It surely wasn’t easy, but worth the extra effort it took to graduate in these strange times.

Whatever their next steps in life will be, they should be ready to take them without fear, as suggested by physicist and chemist Marie Curie’s quote above, and with an ability to understand more than they might have without stepping up to the challenges placed before them during a pandemic. Those  challenges may still be with them as they take on the next stages in their lives, but they should feel confident that they will know what to do in the face of them.

No matter the era, new graduates breathe new life into everything they do. They bring new ideas that inspire those around them. They are truly the hope of the future, and should be welcomed into life with the same sort of energy they bring with them.

We at The Lakeville Journal thank them for the honor and joy of watching them grow, often covering their activities over the years, and wish them only the best as they move forward to new adventures and changes in life. Don’t miss the photos of the graduates from Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village in the pages of this newspaper this week. You will see their enthusiasm clearly. They should know they are ready for the future, whatever it brings.