Comment: Growing up with the grads

I’m used to it by now.

It happens every year.

But this year … this year is particularly special.

For the first time since I started working for The Observer, I will watch my first class of East County athletes turn their tassels as they prepare to head off and begin the next chapters of their lives.

They’ve come full circle since their names first splashed across my notebook four years ago.

At that point, they were merely freshmen. They didn’t know what the future held.

But in time they would eventually figure it out.

Over the past four years, they’ve learned new sports, honed their skills and adjusted to new teammates, coaches and the demands of playing high school athletics.

Some were unwittingly thrust into the limelight in the most unforeseen circumstances, only to rise to the occasion before their nerves could truly set in.

They’ve laughed together, cried together and won and lost together. They’ve suffered injuries, heartbreak and disappointment; and they’ve shared in more historic moments, championships and milestones than I can remember.

As with any graduating class, there are those who will be remembered for their athletic and academic achievements. But for me, the class of 2012 will always be remembered as the first class I covered from start to finish.

I’ve gotten to know them well; and it’s strange knowing that in a matter of months I’ll no longer be running into those same athletes, who have graced the pages of the East County Observer for the past four years, in the halls or on their respective athletic fields.

But with more than three-dozen of my athletes having signed national letters-of-intent this year, I can just about guarantee that I’ll be seeing their names again.

So, as another school year comes to a close, I would like to wish all of my athletes, along with the rest of the class of 2012, the best of luck in the years ahead.