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Editorial: Commencing friendships
Op-Ed · June 16, 2016


West Branch High School English teacher Michelle Bacon-Curry had a brilliant idea for her graduation speech when she asked each teacher to stand and make brief remarks.


Among the advice to listen, take risks, to work hard and to understand life is not always fair, one theme that rose among the speakers was the importance of friendships.

Boring advice for teens?

Perhaps.

But important nonetheless.

To illustrate, let’s take a few examples from right here in West Branch.

Just about a year or so ago, when Mayor Mark Worrell died, the family wisely hosted services at West Branch High School. The family of Tom Wall held his visitation there in late May. Both reasons: These men had LOTS of friends.

When Jerry and Tammy Sexton purchased the golf course and needed to get it up and running, friends flocked to the new Cedars Edge with their lawnmowers and tools.

And when the Lions Club in May hosted a dinner to raise money to pay hospital bills for Main Street Sweets owners Steven and Jessica Grace’s newborn, Jaclyn, the line to get in stretched from West Branch Fire Department, across Second Street and into Village Green for more than an hour.

The goal is not to fill your address book or to count Twitter followers. As vocal music instructor Chris Reed stated, it is to “build relationships.” That means making time, making sacrifices, listening and more. As band director Lisa Schrock stated, “Never take relationships for granted.”

Counselor and Head Boys Track Coach Taylor Larson admonished the Class of 2016, saying, “Don’t settle for anything less than happiness.” If you think Larson means happiness is contradictory to taking risks and working hard, then you don’t understand how his track team took seven athletes to the state meet. Happiness is not an end, but a byproduct of success, and it is just as true in friendships as it is in sports.

Science teacher Lynette Cummings stated that life’s biggest regrets often come from “what you DON’T do.” Art teacher Kate Milster noted that “choices show more than our abilities.” And Bacon-Curry wrapped up the speech by telling the graduates to “live with your hearts wide open.”

The folks mentioned in examples above are good examples of carrying out that advice. Some of them had little to no public spotlight, and none of them seemed motivated to make headlines. But through cultivating friendships, these people made big impacts on the world around them.

It’s worth noting that the teachers did not admonish the graduates to remember scientific formulas, algebraic equations or verb conjugations. Their parting words focused on reminding the West Branch’s 139th graduating class how to be wise, mature and productive members of society.

And most of all, that means strong friendships.