A Tribute to the Class of 2024

Nearly 2,000 years ago the last of The Five Good Emperors of Rome, Marcus Aurelius found himself where you were as you started your time at LaRue County High School as freshmen in the 2020-21 school year — in the midst of a brutal pandemic. In his journal, in a time before our modern understanding of medicine, he wrote this sobering thought to himself “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

In the last four years, you have experienced unique challenges your parents, grandparents, and likely great-grandparents did not face at your age. Going through your high school years during a pandemic is no small thing. Yet, when you look back in history, you’re not alone in your experience. Students during The Great Flu of 1918-1920 shared your hardship. If you keep looking, you’ll find similar trials throughout recorded history.

This is the beauty of looking back in time. While history doesn’t necessarily repeat itself, it does rhyme argued Mark Twain. In that, you can find strength knowing that if your ancestors who went before you could survive and learn to thrive, then you can too.

Consider now turning your attention from the past to the future and what challenges and successes await you. The grit, perseverance, and overall resilience you have developed in your time at LaRue County High School will pay dividends in the future. You will discover an incredible resource in your ability to problem-solve by adapting, improvising, and overcoming.

While some might say what you’ve experienced is a detriment to you, another ancient writer by the name of Seneca has a different perspective. He considers you fortunate because you have experienced an opponent that you have overcome and that experience has shown you how capable you are of taking on new problems in the future

As you head into the adventures of life ahead, find courage knowing you’re in the company of those throughout history who have gone on to do great things as a result of the trials they experienced early in life. You will meet obstacles you can’t imagine, but don’t be afraid. Instead, remember the words of Viktor Frankl, “What [we] actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of [us].”