Grab your family, friends and boxes of tissues — graduation season is upon us.

Five local schools will send off their seniors between Thursday and May 17, about 300 freshfaced adults, thrusting them into the worlds of college, trade school or the job market after having guided many for over a decade.

I am excited to attend each of these events and see many seniors I have covered in recent years walk the stage and begin anew. From the smiles through entering to Sir Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” to the tears at Vitamin C’s “Graduation (Friends Forever)” during the slideshows, graduations bring a range of emotions for students and their families, a day many never forget.

I have walked the stage twice myself, though my experience is rather unique compared to seniors at Cassville, Southwest, Exeter, Wheaton and Purdy.

For starters, three of these schools hold graduations in their gyms, another in its multi-purpose room, and the fifth on its high school football field. Quick aside, I love Cassville sticking with the outdoor graduation. Assuming the weather is cooperative, it makes for a beautiful ceremony unique to the largest district we cover.

My alma mater, Little Rock Central High School, could have probably had our 2006 graduation at our football stadium, though I’m not sure how administration would have procured 600-plus chairs to put on the field.

My graduation ceremony was held in what’s now called Simmons Bank Arena (Verizon Arena when I graduated and Alltel Arena before then). An 18,000seat venue (about 6,000 of those were blocked off), it’s the same place I had watched multiple Arkansas Riverblades minor league hockey games, and where I have attended multiple concerts like Aaron Carter (don’t judge me; my crush in eighth grade really liked him) and, more recently, Green Day (best concert ever).

At any rate, that graduation was four hours long, half of which was just my fellow seniors’ names being called. With a name like “Troutman,” I was of course in the back of the alphabetical seating, not near any of my friends. I had some acquaintances within earshot, but my class was so big I had never met my classmates on either side of me until graduation day.

The second time I walked across a stage was at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in the 5,600-seat Jack Stephens Center. After five years of post-secondary education, I was so ready to be done with school I may have started celebrating early and showed up just in time to get in my spot in line.

I don’t remember how many people I graduated with that time, but most of the gym floor was filled. And again, I was not seated by anyone I had ever met.

Yet, I did make a friend that day. Seated next to me was a jittery, excited fellow graduate named, Dina. She said while we may not have known one another before, we’ll always remember that we graduated college together.

I’ve not seen Dina since then, but we became friends on social media and still are. She has a beautiful, blended family with her husband and two adopted children. Every time she posts about them, I’m happily reminded of graduating from UALR and happy to see her enjoying life as much as she did on that day.

Those graduations were fun, but if I were to go back, I think I would have preferred the Barry County way.

All graduations are special, but having covered them here for so long, there is a level of familiarity and intimacy that does not exist in a class of more than 600. I couldn’t hardly see my friends to wave at them, let alone devise a special pose or action at the end of the seats during the processional.

I did not get a sappy video of all my classmates as kids, nor even a slideshow of yearbook staff photos throughout the year (many of which would have been taken by my newspaper/yearbook friend of many years, Richelle). And we most certainly could not have all given rubber ducks to our principal, though I would love to see the look on her face if we had tried.

All those little things are what makes graduations here in small town America a little more fun, a little more exciting and a little more special.

So, seniors, enjoy your moment in coming weeks. Savor those last bits of time with your friends and lean into the sometimes loud and embarrassing love emitting from your family.

You only graduate once, so make the absolute most of it — a day you’ll never want to forget!

P.S. I hope to help in that regard. Last year, I started making sure I took at least one (aiming for two) photo of each and every graduate in our five districts. I am again setting myself on that task this year, and those photos will be available for viewing and purchase online at http://cassvilledemocrat.zenfoliosite. com/photo-galleries. I can’t wait to capture your memories!

Kyle Troutman has served as the editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and became Publisher in 2023. He was named William E. James/Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers in 2017, and he won a Golden Dozen Award from ISWINE in 2022. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cassville- democrat.com.