Graduation section done!

Phew! The graduation section is done. With new stories and pictures added up deadline – and after – the graduation section on all of Union County’s students has fattened yourpaper. Preparing it was a monstrous job for everyone involved.
The advertising department sorted through the details to make sure that everyone’s beloved graduate received the right ad, the right picture, greeting and that the student’s name was spelled correctly.
The production department built ads from early morning to late day, sent out proofs and made changes as needed. The presses had to be prepared and run twice to get it all printed. Inserters waited for today’s paper to come off the press so they could shove a copy of the graduation section into your paper.
For my part, I worried over the information, trying to cram in as much local information on high school graduates and college related information as possible. At press time we still could not get the valedictorian and salutatorian for Strong because their scores were too close to choose one over the other in time for to be printed in the special section.
I dedicated several days to laying out pages, entering copying and preparing pictures for news worthy graduation information. The editorial staff picked through my haste and corrected my mistakes.
After reading, typing and revising, I feel like I know a great deal about this year’s students. As a mother, I strove to squeeze in as much information as possible about each student. As a news paper person, I struggled to not become too wordy and include information that failed to fit our usual format.
Again, time, space and just the constraints of getting together information and pictures from everyone in time means that even after all this, we do not have a complete list of all the scholarships awarded. We do not have all the honors, activities or even all the names of the students who should have been recognized. If you would like this information to be published, gather up the pertinent information and we will include them in our regular paper at a later date.
I am always astonished at the number of large academic scholarships which are awarded but all that we receive at the News-Times is one sentence from the school. Hey! It is great news when a student leaves for college with a full academic scholarship. We like to let people know about the academic achievements, just as much as we recognize athletic achievements, however you, the reader, the parents, the students have to let us know first.
For myself, it has also been a busy time at home. Our exchange students had all the accompanying end of the year activities: an athletic banquet, a student led baccalaureate and another graduation absorbed my evening hours after spending the day poring over graduation information.
With as many people as I have in my family, it seems like we have someone graduating every year. This year, our youngest son’s wife will receive her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Missouri in St. Louis. We are mighty proud of her … and just as she is finishing up and preparing for graduate school, my son, her husband, is also enrolling in graduate school – so we aren’t done yet.
Graduation is a grand time. I love it, but after two weeks of intense absorption with the graduation section, please excuse me if my energy level for excitement is a bit low. My enthusiasm is exhibited with all the information I did manage to jam onto the pages.
I hope you enjoy it and are as proud of the Union County students as I am.