Column: Athletes ready for life after graduation

Sunday's graduation ceremony at Bigfork High School brought back plenty of fond memories of my own high school and college graduations, as well as the feelings of fear, anxiety and shock that I experienced after receiving my diplomas. Also tugging me down memory lane this week was the one year anniversary of my arrival at the Bigfork Eagle.

Ironically, coming here was a lot like going away to college. I knew a few people here and was somewhat familiar with the area, but mostly I was thrown into the unknown. I had worked at a newspaper before, but never at a community paper like Bigfork. I was far from my home, family and friends, and at first I was pretty scared about whether or not I had made the right choice.

Fortunately my co-workers and the community of Bigfork helped me settle in quickly. The coaches and players helped my learning curve be quick and fairly painless. All-in-all, coming here was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The last year has been an amazing learning experience and I look forward to the coming year. I wouldn't have been able to say that, though, had I played it safe and stayed in Seattle.

In the grand scheme of things, high school, with the exception of graduating from it, doesn't really matter. All of the problems and all of the drama that seemed so important at the time are mostly inconsequential to life as a whole. However, the lessons that students learn from those moments of stress and teenage-trauma matter greatly. They are the foundation for a lifetime of skills that they will need as these problems repeatedly come back throughout their adult years.

It has been seven years since I received my high school diploma and had to make some pretty big choices about what was next for me. At the time I thought that was the one and only major crossroads that I would really have to face by myself. However, I learned last year that those type of life-changing choices are constantly popping up. Usually you can choose to either ignore them or take a risk with them.

In life we can take many paths and the easiest is always the most tempting, but when we go outside of our comfort zone we often find something even better than what we thought we wanted down that easy path. I feel confident that those students from Bigfork that take the path less traveled will do just fine because they are already armed with a unique background from being from the Village of Bigfork.

The students of BHS know what it is like to be an underdog. This year they were the smallest Class A school in the conference, but they didn't use that as an excuse and instead took it on as a challenge. Sure they didn't always come out on top, but they usually finished better than expected.

The senior boys dealt with a lot of defeat over their years at BHS and I think it is extremely commendable that they stuck together the way that they did. I know that many quit playing, or transferred to other schools, because they didn't like having a losing record. But those that honored their commitment to their team and to their peers learned more than any winning record could teach them.

BHS has had a year full of changes, and change is not easy especially at a time like your senior year when you need that last little bit of stability before taking a big leap into the unknown. But the Class of 2009 handled it and helped lead their school and their teams through the changes.

The lessons that athletes and fans learn as a result of high school sports go beyond things like team work and sportsmanship. I hope that every senior that participated in a sport or activity remembers how good it felt to give that little bit extra when they thought they didn't have any more to give. I hope that they all remember what it is like to celebrate small victories, to value each others' strengths and to put aside their differences to work for a common goal. These are all great life skills to have which will undoubtedly come in handy for the rest of their lives.

It's not always easy, either. I know that every athlete at BHS remembers a time when they gave it all they had, and they still didn't win. Many players have felt like they were looked over as a result of someone playing favorites. And every athlete, coach and fan has felt that a bad call was made against their team. But those things will not go away just because they are done playing sports at BHS. Those scenarios will be something they will encounter for the rest of their lives.

Just because these athletes are leaving the court/field and high school doesn't mean that the learning or the competition has ended. In fact, it has just begun. They will spend the rest of their lives taking chances, learning from their mistakes, dealing with difficult situations and trying to make the right choice. They are well prepared from their experiences in sports, the classroom and even the hallways of BHS. All they can do now is remember these skills and apply them to the best of their ability, and chances are that if they keep working hard they will measure up to the competition just fine. And even if things don't go like they planned, which is often the case in life, they will always know that they gave it their all and have no regrets.