Graduation a turning point in young lives

Graduation is a big deal. It’s the goal you work toward as soon as you start kindergarten. It’s what you dream about when you feel you can’t take school anymore. Every student anticipates the day when he or she can officially throw their hat in the air and say, “I did it! I officially completed 13 years of school!”

And it’s even more important if you already have an idea of where you are going after graduation.

Mat-Su Career and Technical High School class of 2013 consists of 106 students. Eleven will be valedictorians.

Every student has a plan about what they’re doing after graduation. They enter and sit with classmates they plan on working with in the future. When they walk across the stage, an adviser will chronicle their accomplishments and intentions for the future. An industry representative will be there to congratulate them. Then they will officially be graduates.

The majority of these students have spent four years at this school working for this moment. Before they even started here, they had an idea of where they wanted to go. At Career Tech, they started working toward that career idea. They worked on getting as much done as they could before they reached this critical transition — graduation. And planning this graduation has not been easy.

Preparation for the graduation ceremony began at the start of the school year. Because the school building has become too small to host all the family and friends eager to see the graduation, the location and time has had to change. This year, the ceremony is at 1 p.m., May 15 at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center.

The counseling and office staff are working tirelessly to make sure that this day goes smoothly. Because, to them, these young adults are not just students, they are friends. In such a small school, after four years, students and staff can feel a lot like family. You feel like you can share your life stories with each other and make lifelong relationships. It would be hard not to want to make this moment as special as possible.

On graduation day, the focus is not only to showcase each student, but also the class as a whole. They know that after this last time, they are leaving, yet they will still feel close to each other. They have all worked hard for this and have done it together. They have both given and looked to each other for support. Graduation day will be a moment of coming together, and also farewell.

After graduation, they may not see each other again. They have spent so many years with each other, and are now setting out to make a path of their own. They have reached a crossroad in life where many hesitate and have to deliberate over which direction to go. But not these students — they knew even before they saw the crossroad which direction they are going in.

But they will still remember these people — their classmates, teachers and advisers — because they have helped them choose their career path and celebrate their graduation. And when they reflect on this graduation, these students will remember that this day, no matter how inconsequential it may have seemed at the time, marked a turning point in their lives.

Anita Laulainen is a junior at Mat-Su Career and Technical High School.