Youth Not Wasted on the Young

By far, my favorite duty as editor of The Herald is hosting the annual Senior Achievement program.

We finished up the 42nd presentation of the banquet last night. It was an inspiring evening that recognizes accomplished, talented and genius high school seniors. Each of these students, the cream of the crop, will be lauded by their schools and by different organizations within their school districts during the weeks leading to their graduation. But The Herald's Senior Achievement Award program is the only time that these students, from different schools and with a wide range of talents, come together to be honored.

This year The Herald recognized 62 students at about two dozen schools from King City to North Monterey County schools.

For the past two years, I've been responsible for introducing each of the students at the event, which this year was held at the Beach Resort Monterey. It's an arduous task; I'm at the lectern for 90 minutes and describing the accomplishments of so many wonderful kids (I tend to develop a bad case of the flop sweats when speaking to crowds), but I can't help but get charged up by the students' enthusiasm and passions.

They are focused and disciplined. And they should inspire us all that our future generation will be in good stead.