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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

The month of May brings along many important events and days, among which are Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and the end of school. For hundreds of thousands of students around the country though, May’s presence means more this year than it ever has, because graduation is upon them.

Graduation season kicked off last week in Shelby County, with the bulk of the schools preparing to put on a special ceremony in the coming days. The seniors from every high school will walk the stage, receive their diplomas and move their tassels, signifying the closing of one chapter and the beginning of the next.

In May 2021, I graduated from Oak Mountain High School with honors. I followed in the footsteps of my older brother and sister, both of whom also walked those same halls that I once did to finish out their time in grade school.

My graduation was different than that of many though, as the world was still in a time where social distancing was a normality during the tail end of COVID-19. We graduated in the football stadium, while students now mostly graduate in auditoriums or arenas.

It is safe for me to say that graduation season holds a special time for me, especially having just graduated from college at Auburn and returned home to work at SCR. Now, this year, I have the honor of returning to cover my alma mater’s graduation on Thursday, May 22 at Bartow Arena.

As someone whose life has been defined by emotions and driven by different thoughts, I understand the pure excitement that many of these students have knowing they are about to head off to college. I will not hesitate to say though that I understand that behind the joy they feel is a possible sense of anxiousness.

Students do not know what to truly expect from the new rigors life will throw at them, while parents wonder if their child is okay every second of the day. However, in my experience, I quickly figured out that those 18 years leading up to that moment were not all for nothing.

To the future college academics, you know more than you think you do. You will adapt better than you anticipate and you will handle the difficulties with confidence, making memories along the way. To the parents, trust me when I say that your children listened to you. All those times you think they were just ignoring your life lessons, they took it in and will use it in their own way in this next step of life.

So when I enter Bartow Arena on Thursday to take photos and watch these kids earn their high school degrees, I will be smiling and reflecting on the fact that the emotions these kids feel is what I once experienced just a short few years ago sitting at Heardmont Park.

However, if I had to tell 18-year-old Tyler one thing in that moment, it would be that everything will be alright, something I hope these kids realize themselves.