Farewell, high school seniors, but don’t rule out coming home for your grownup life

Congratulations to the Class of 2015.
It’s a proud time for the news staff at the Star Herald, because we’ve watched (mostly through the lenses of our cameras) these students grow up over the past 18 years.
Through various photo opportunities, we’ve come to know them as they’ve risen through the ranks of preschool, elementary and high school, and by now we feel like we know them.
We’ve photographed them in their construction paper pilgrim hats in Discovery Time, and they’ve made the paper with their fourth-grade science projects and ninth-grade band and choir performances.
We’ve followed their academic and athletic endeavors as well as their 4-H, church and other community activities. These are great kids, and they’ve prompted some great news coverage.
It was with great pleasure that we assembled the pages of our annual Graduation Special Edition, placing each senior photograph and typing in their plans for the future.
This week we proudly present our Arts and Academics Special Edition, which highlights special achievements of our high school students from the 2014-15 school year.
These editions are our versions of pages in their childhood scrapbooks.
It’s not that this year’s seniors are more special or newsworthy than the classes that graduated before them. The Star Herald has been following students in this way for decades.
But with each graduating class, our reporters grow a bit attached to the students, and this time of year represents a certain amount of letting go.
So, bon voyage, high school seniors. Carpe diem! … We wish you well.
Go on, get educated and do great things, but don’t forget to come back for Buffalo Days and Hot Dog Night.
Or, dare we suggest, consider coming back to Rock County for a career of your own. Many of us have done just that, and we’re now living the lives we dreamed of when we were starry-eyed high school graduates … here in Rock County where our voyage began.