At Hastings Area School System, graduating is a big deal.
When students reach that finish line in their educational careers, the entire community is seemingly waiting there to applaud them.
This is evident in the various ceremonies and festivities held during the final school days for high school seniors. The school and its leaders might coordinate them, but the greater Hastings community chips in to make them special.
Nowhere is that more apparent than on Decision Day, a special morning ceremony for graduating seniors that is held on their final day of school, which was last Thursday. This event allows students to announce their post-high school plans and allows parents, teachers, staff, and the rest of the community to give them a literal round of applause as they head off into the next phase of their lives.
One aspect of Decision Day that livens the graduating class is the table filled with prizes that are handed out via a big giveaway. These items range from gift cards to restaurants and stores to car wash kits, mini refrigerators, and even a television set.
Students can consider these prizes as gifts from the community — because that is what they are. A host of local businesses and community members come together to make this huge giveaway happen. Some of those contributions include:
— King's Appliance donated two mini-fridges.
— Tractor Supply and Wolverine International both donated work boots.
— Jimmy John’s donated certificates for free sandwiches.
— Culver’s donated a gift basket.
— Parents and friends of the high school donated money through DonorsChoose for the school to purchase other prizes such as a TV, microwave, laundry package, backpacks with school supplies, and commuter supplies.
This same outpouring of both moral and material support was offered to seniors as they approached graduation, too, in the form of the FAFSA incentive program. The school’s counseling department developed and built out a program that entered students into prize drawings when they completed their FAFSA paperwork, which is an important step in the college enrollment process for most.
The Hastings Education Enrichment Foundation, which pools generous donations from around the community year-round to support students, also chips in to make the seniors’ final days special. This year, they footed the bill for transportation so that seniors could visit their elementary schools one last time before they graduate. Seniors were greeted by younger Saxons who cheered them on.
Some graduates have spent the last decade-plus in the Hastings School System, and the Saxon community leaves no doubt in their minds that they are proud of their hard work and accomplishments.