While I never have what is termed “writers block”… I can sit down and type 1,000 words about nearly any topic in 10 minutes… thank you, Mrs. Jones from typing class at Bowling Green High and Jim Highland from journalism class at WKU… but sometimes it is a struggle to come up with the topic for this space. However, this month… wow… there’s the pandemic… SOKY’s 13th anniversary and our huge high school senior salute in the center of this issue. Let’s see if I can weave them all three together and make it make sense.
Nearly everyone has lost something because of the Coronavirus. Some have lost a little… some have lost a lot. One group that is easy to overlook is our area’s high school seniors. I don’t know about you, but my senior year was one of the best years of my life. The events and experiences leading up to the end of 12 years of work and graduation made special memories an important and fun time with friends. Our seniors have missed a lot of that because of the decisions made by our governor. Right or wrong… it is what it is and we are all forced to deal with it.
One day, a few weeks ago, Twila was checking out the website of another area media who was selling ads to parents to recognize their high school seniors. Now, don’t get me wrong… I love a revenue stream idea as much as any business owner. But in a time when most of the kids have been laid off, along with many of their parents, it seems a bit cold to ask them to pay to recognize a group who has lost so much through no fault of their own.
Twila, being the sweet person she is, said, “Why can’t we recognize all the high school seniors?” I thought… “Really? All? Have you sort of lost your sweet mind?”
But being a wise and experienced husband after 30 years I said, “Honey, what a great idea. But you’ll never get the schools to cooperate in time to make our June deadline… if at all.” Boy, was I wrong!
In less than two weeks Twila talked to school representatives for 21 schools and obtained pictures and names of over 3,000 South Central Kentucky high school seniors. Then we spent a week building over 50 pages to include in this issue. Special thanks here to Kay and Alice who proofed all the pages for us.
Speaking of this issue… congrats to our sponsors, writers, artists, team, and especially you, our amazing SOKY readers, for allowing us to serve this amazing community for 13 years as the go-to source for what’s happening, along with some great articles and marketing opportunities that are so creative, positive and cost-efficient nobody can match them.
So, there you have it. All three topics wrapped up into one column leading into the biggest and best issue ever of SOKY Happenings. Thank you for being a part of helping us serve the best community in the world… you and the rest of South Central Kentucky.
-By Tim Hurst, SOKY Publisher
