2006 graduates do us all proud

It has been hard to read the profiles of local high school students in the newspaper recently and not feel a little rush of excitement for what they've done and what they may do.

Three dozen students will graduate Saturday with the honor of achieving perfect grades all through high school. Their secrets to earning top grades include hard work, prioritizing, setting standards, and a little humor. One common denominator among these bright stars, however, is a long list of extracurricular activities - they aren't just sticking their noses in books.

Hard work also is a defining characteristic for the students being profiled in the Inter Lake's "Trade Winds" series, which has been running this week on the front page. These are students who are going from high school straight into the work world or into technical schools to prepare for a career. They are not people who are going to drift through their lives without goals.

They are an inspiration, no matter what they decide they will pursue.

That's what this weekend's graduation ceremonies are all about - a moment in the spotlight to honor successes and the promise of what lies ahead.

It's a bittersweet exercise for the parents of these teenagers in caps and gowns and smiles.

During long commencement speeches in crowded facilities, it's easy for parents' minds to wander. Random images from their children's school years flash along like a DVD played at hyper speed. And then when it's time to snap the picture of the graduating class, or that one special graduate, it seems impossible that the time went so fast, no matter how cliched that sounds.

We hope that teamwork between the schools and our homes have prepared these young men and women for the challenges they'll face when they are out of our grasp. Even the milestones ahead are hard to anticipate. Higher education? Marriage? Jobs? Travel? Maybe. They won't know until they are in the midst of making decisions.

If the students profiled in the past week are any indication, those decisions will be sound.

Our community and our schools can be proud of these teenagers. It's even all right to brag about them a little this week.

It's all in the spirit of recognizing achievement.

Congratulations.