By LAURA HAMMACK, guest columnist

This being my last column as superintendent of schools for this incredible school district, it is important that this moment is not about me. Rather, this moment needs to be about the 140 graduates from Brown County High School who crossed the stage in the Larry C. Banks Memorial Gymnasium on Friday, May 28.

I was honored to give the following remarks to the Brown County High School Class of 2021:

Class of 2021,

It has been an absolute joy and honor to watch you experience the very special moments that have made up your collective years at Brown County High School.

Being the Class of 2021, you are special. Special because you didn’t just experience the onset of the pandemic; your class has endured the ongoing frustrations, disappointments and generalized anxiety that has permeated the last 15 months of your high school experience.

You are also special because you haven’t let this pandemic define you.

You have proven to be resilient through adversity, joyful in disappointment, courageous in fear, and resolved when uncertainty was all around us. While I am sorry that these conditions were experienced during a time when you should be experiencing nothing but joy, I promise that the dispositions that you have developed during this most challenging of times will serve you very well throughout your next chapter and subsequent chapters of your life.

Please know that the board of school trustees and I are so proud of how you have shined your light in this period of darkness and risen to this moment, a graduation moment where darkness falls away and nothing but love and hope await as you transition toward your future. We wish each of you great success and sincere happiness in your days ahead.

I’d like to take a moment to thank the parents, grandparents and any other caregivers for the opportunity to work with your children over the duration of their experience in our school district. If you are a parent, grandparent or caregiver, will you please stand for a moment? Students, will you please give these incredible people some love?

Parents and caregivers, you have done an extraordinary job and your support has resulted in the incredible accomplishments that have been realized in every member of the Class of 2021.

I’d like to take a moment to recognize all of our educators and staff who have contributed to your education, be it in a classroom, lunchroom, office, school bus and athletic fields. If you are an educator or staff member of Brown County Schools, will you please stand so we can honor and offer out thanks for you? Thank you for your role in advancing these young people to this significant moment in their lives.

Seniors, you are ready. Ready for college. Ready for a career. Ready for a career in the military. Your next step is starting now, and we all hold great confidence that for you, the best is yet to come.

Seniors, if you hear anything from me tonight, my prayer for all of you is that wherever you go, you will know that you are loved, that you are called for great purpose, and that Brown County will always be your home.

We are so proud of you, and it is our sincere wish that you will always be proud to say that you graduated from Brown County High School. Congratulations.

Readers of the Brown County Democrat, thank you for your support over the last five years. The best is yet to come for our Class of 2021 and for the future of Brown County Schools. It’s been a gift to serve you for the past five years.

All my love,

Laura

Laura Hammack’s last day as Brown County Schools superintendent was May 28.