Exciting futures await community's graduating seniors

Congratulations Sandpoint High School Class of 2013.

This message also goes out to the high school graduates at Clark Fork, Forrest Bird Charter School, Lake Pend Oreille High School and other area schools inhabited by Badgers and Spartans.

Today is the commencement ceremony for Sandpoint High School.

Commence means to begin. As in, “you have now graduated, you will now commence moving out …”

Commencement also means to start — as in today really is the beginning of the rest of your lives graduates.

Many paths have led you this date. Some of you breezed through high school with a steady diet of advanced placement and dual enrollment classes. Others of you decided to make your high school experience sporting by taking the “just enough to barely make it” curriculum.

You know who you are.

For parents, the year 2013 seemed like several lifetimes away and we are all feeling very ancient today.

Whichever path you took, you made it to today and for this you should be congratulated.

The trail you take after today, however, will be entirely up to you.

Past performance almost always equals future performance.

This is not to say that if you didn’t crack a book in high school it might not be the best idea to do the same in college. You, graduate, will finally have the ultimate say in what you are going to do after you wake up each morning.

As a reminder, here is what you have going for you:

• You grew up in a great place. Really. Look around. You are as close to heaven as you can be on earth. Relish it.

• You finished your education in a school that was small enough that teachers and the administration knew your name but was large enough to prepare you for an ever-changing world.

• You developed a fan base.

Whether you noticed it or not, there have been a cadre of parents and random adults who have mostly secretly cheered you on when you made the honor roll, cheerleading squad, chess club or earned your first car.

We watched you size up the ball in T-ball and watched how you reacted when you were cut from a high school team.

We watched you develop grace, charm and self confidence that we oldsters aren’t sure we have now and are darn sure we didn’t have when we were your age.

People in and around here embrace achievement, root for self improvement and support education by funding a system that the state of Idaho criminally shorts every year. And still you made it.

The truth is that starting tomorrow life is going to become more of a challenge for you. There is nobody else like you and nobody will care about what you care about as much as you do.

If you are lucky you will find friends, a mate and a career that will enhance your life. If any of the three items listed here go south on you, life will be a bit more of a challenge.

Facebook friends, Twitter buddies and Instagram and Snapchat chums really aren’t your friends.

If you don’t believe me, ask each of your Facebook friends to give you $5 and help you move. That’s when you will find out who your friends are.

Seems to me that social media in general has destroyed the ability to spell, maintain an adult conversation “off-line”and has really become a medium to hurt people.

It is now easier than ever to spread misinformation, hurtful rumors and pick on people with the click of a button.

In an age where impulse control is lacking, it’s my hope that you all will learn how to put your phone down, learn face-to-face communication skills and throw in a please and thank you every once in awhile.

But I digress.

Never in the history of the world has there been a better time to discover what the world has to offer. You can Google or Wikipedia anything.

The world is waiting for you, graduate of 2013.

The world waits to see how high you are going to bounce when you lift off from the launch pad that is high school.

The world waits to see what kind of work and study habits you have developed and what your plan is to rock our world.

This community wants to thank each and every one of you for enriching our lives. Whether it was a Friday night football game, a state championship in soccer, a great school newspaper, “Guys and Dolls”, choir and band concerts, serving dinners at Jalapenos, greeting us at the theater, smiling, mowing grass or sacking groceries.

You seniors have left your mark and your hometown wishes you the best of luck.

We thank you for who you are and look forward to who you will become.

All the best!

• David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.