Jill's Journal: Achievements are measured in many ways

By: 
Jill Meier, Journal editor
Journal reporter Jamie Hult told me she’d probably cry at Sunday’s graduation ceremonies.
I fessed up that that I probably would, too. It happens every year, even though not a one of the graduates are my son or daughter. Graduation is simply one of life’s milestones that can prompt a watery eye or two, and I’ve been to a slug of the annual waterworks events.
Perhaps it’s the reflection of the school year, the many achievements made this year – five state titles, for starters. Or maybe it’s the difficulty of saying “good-bye” to the familiar faces and personalities that prompt these emotions. But honestly, who cares as to the reason why. 
As it turns out, we both dabbed a few tears dry. 
We – along with many of you in the Activities Center – both teared up for another reason, too: Graduating senior William Roths.
William is one of several 2019 BVHS graduates that’s had to endure life with a personal hardship; he’s unable to walk on his own accord. But on Sunday, William walked across the stage with the aid of a walker.
“It was beyond great that everyone stood for him,” his mother, Nichole Mohning, wrote me in an email to me the following day. The audience’s respect of the young man, unfortunately, hindered his family from snapping a photo of her son achieving one of his biggest feats to date in his yet young life.
She explained that William endured two major surgeries during high school “and worked so hard to be able to do that.”
And that got me to thinking how achievements are measured in different ways. It can be something as simple as figuring out a math equation or learning to play an instrument. Perhaps it’s learning to drive a car, mastering a difficult recipe or battling back to win a state championship. There are thousands and thousands of ways that achievement can be defined. But for William, a simple walk across the stage, surely wasn’t simple. Like the student-athletes on the track team trying to perfect their skills to leap over hurdles or cut a second or two off of their race time, those things don’t come without some blood, sweat and tears.
No matter the goal, no matter how big the climb or how difficult the work needed to be done is, the end prize – the achievement – is always worth effort. And a few happy tears.
* * *
Speaking of achievements, I encourage you to take some time this weekend to cheer our Lynx baseball and track and field teams on to victory at their respective state events. BV baseball plays at noon Saturday in Sioux Falls, and the thinclads begin their quest for their state titles Friday on the Brandon track. Saturday they head to Howard Wood Field. Go, Lynx! 

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