Scrapbook time of year for parents is good news for us all
Individually, graduates may be experiencing the raw ache of 'last times' for so many activities, but collectively, they remind us of an important cycle of life
When you are the parent of a graduating high school senior, it's hard not to think in terms of "lasts." His last speech meet. Her last volleyball game. Their last concert, track meet, report card, prom, request for money (well, we can dream, can't we?) …
It's a bittersweet and very personal time for a parent.
Yet, from a broader perspective -- and I suspect Daily Herald assistant sports editor and Hall of Fame high school sports writer Bob Frisk knows this better than almost anyone from his decades of watching such things -- this time of the school year is part of a cycle that, happily, does not end. Each succession of last times brings new faces, new names, new reminders of what virtue there is among youth.
In Wednesday's Neighbor sections, we profiled some remarkable young men and women. Among them:
• Caitlyn Pickens, the No. 1 ranked Grayslake North senior who dreams of the day when she's shaking chalk dust out of her hair like the teacher who inspired her to go into teaching herself.
• Patrick Eschenfeldt, St. Charles North's No. 1-ranked senior, who manages, according to his teachers, to be "quite humble" while posting a perfect ACT score, editing the school newspaper and participating in math team, Model United Nations, concert band, wind ensemble, cross country and volleyball.
• Adam Hasz, the No. 4 ranked Schaumburg High School senior who plans to go into biology research in order to preserve wildlife, help cure disease, fight global warming or, in some other way, improve life on earth.
• Nicole Lomotan, the top-ranked senior at Glenbard North High School who responded to the heartache of her father's death by dedicating her life to a career in medicine.
Amazing teenagers all. And yet all were just bright and bubbly sixth graders when the Daily Herald introduced to you our first Academic Teams in 2002. Since then, we've introduced more than 300 local academic standouts each spring, not to mention a similar number of young community activists each winter and more standout high school athletes throughout the year than I suspect even Frisk can count.
These are scrapbook times for parents, times for storing away reminders of our children's all-too-fleeting youth, for wondering how we managed to endure it and at the same time how it went by so fast. But they are important times for the community at large as well.
Individually, each graduating student may be experiencing the raw ache of "last times" for so many activities of youth, but collectively, they are all reminding us of an important cycle of life -- that excellence is not the province of any one generation or era. It is a recurring characteristic of all generations.
Remember Caitlyn Pickens, Patrick Eschenfeldt, Adam Hasz, Nicole Lomotan and all the other extraordinary students featured in this week's Academic All-Star reports. They are indeed models of determination, talent, hard work and intellectual curiosity. But do not expect that this is the last time these individuals will make a mark on the world or doubt that this is the last time you will see feats like theirs.
No, for them, as for most teenagers experiencing a litany of lasts this spring, their achievements and recognition are just beginning. And thankfully for the rest of us, there are some bubbly sixth graders out there who today are simply looking ahead to a long, lazy summer.