For our high school and college graduates, June is a new beginning. The decisions they must make are numerous.
They have the choice to immediately go to college, work for a year or two, or perhaps join the military before attending college.
Then there is the variety of needed vocations available; many provide an excellent living. We need plumbers, electricians, mechanics, chefs, cosmetologists and so forth. Several of these professions require additional training and education.
Many college graduates will return home to Crestview, begin a career, marry and raise a family. Some, of necessity, will move to larger communities with more job opportunities for their particular career path. Sometimes, a career moves one to a place they never thought they would live.
A Pew Research poll showed that 57 percent of people stay in their hometown; 20 percent remain in the same state.
My friend, Pam, went through school in Crestview, graduated from Crestview High School, attended Florida State University, and then moved to Tampa to begin her career. Once her son was born, she and her husband moved back to Crestview to raise their family because Crestview offers a sense of community, a great lifestyle and a quieter pace to raise a family, and her extended family was here.
Several physicians in our town grew up in Crestview, went to medical school and came back to practice medicine.
Jim, my husband, and I have moved all over the country because of his job. I was a third-generation native Californian with no intention of ever leaving the state.
Do I miss living in California? Yes and no.
Yes, because my elderly parents live there and I wish I could be there to care for them; no, as my friends and church family are here and our life is more tranquil than in Los Angeles.
Graduates: Sometimes, the greenest grass is right where one grew up — in this case, Crestview.
Congratulations, Class of 2016!
Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CROSE: Here's some advice for Crestview High School graduates