For every graduate, a place in this town

By Lori Gordon Hendrick | The Sunday Column | Special to The Independent

Opinion – In towns like ours, graduation season is more than a ceremony. It is a turning point that ripples through families, churches, ballfields, classrooms, and Main Street storefronts.

We cheer as seniors cross the stage because we know the hard work behind that moment. But as we celebrate them, we should be honest about something too often left unsaid: there is no single right way to build a good life, and there is no single path that defines success.

For some graduates, the next step will be a four-year college. For others, it will be a community college program, an apprenticeship, military service, technical training, or a full-time job. Those are not backup plans. They are honorable, practical, and often wise choices. A community like ours depends on young people who are willing to learn skills, show up early, work hard, and build a future one paycheck and one responsibility at a time.

Too often, we have sold young people a narrow definition of achievement. We speak as if the only success worth admiring comes with a university logo, a corner office, or a title polished enough to impress strangers. That is a mistake. College is valuable, but college is not for everyone. Pretending otherwise does not elevate students; it pressures them into chasing someone else’s version of fulfillment while discounting the very kinds of work that keep communities functioning.

Let us say plainly what should not need defending: we need graduates in every kind of job. We need the young person who becomes a nurse, and we need the one who keeps the service station open before dawn. We need future engineers and future teachers, but we also need dependable workers in restaurants, retail counters, repair shops, warehouses, and offices. These are not lesser callings. They are the jobs that keep a town fed, fueled, cleaned, repaired, served, and running on time.

A healthy community does not ask every graduate to want the same future. It asks them to bring their talents, discipline, and character to whatever path fits them best. Honest work carries dignity, whether it requires a postgraduate degree, a welding torch, a name tag, steel-toed boots, or a time clock. We do our young people no favors when we rank their futures before they have even begun to live them.

So, this graduation season, this town should celebrate every graduate with equal pride.

Whether they are headed to a university campus, a trade program, a job site, a kitchen, a garage, or a cash register, they are stepping into the adult life of this community. A community that will need every one of them. The future will not be built by one kind of success. It will be built by neighbors doing many different kinds of work and doing it well!

Read The Sunday Column, every week, only in The Shelby Independent.

Lori Gordon Hendrick, MSDH, MSGH, CDA, CDT, RDH, PhD is certified in Mental Health & Substance Use Counseling, Office Manager - Joseph R Hendrick, Jr., DDS, PA., Owner - Athena Dental Solutions, LLC and Past President (2021) - NC Dental Hygienists Association

Community Dental Health Coordinator.

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