About 3,500 high school seniors in the Mahoning Valley will walk proudly across stages over the next month to collect their reward for years of dutiful attendance, responsible conduct and academic growth.

The processionals actually began two weeks ago when members of the first high school commencement program for the Class of 2026 in the region — Youngstown Rayen Early College High School — ushered in the season of pomp and circumstance at Stambaugh Auditorium. There, those top-notch high-achieving students who attend high school and college simultaneously received their diplomas, which represent their passport to a bright future.

Beginning this week and continuing through early June, throngs of other high school seniors in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties will bid adieu to 12 or 13 years of educational and personal growth at public and private high schools throughout the region.

We offer our congratulations to all the graduates as well as their supportive parents, teachers and other mentors and motivators.

Several Valley high schools and, more importantly, the students who populate them stand out this year. Some have singled themselves out for superlative academic standings as witnessed by this spring’s robust crop of valedictorians and salutatorians. At Austintown Fitch High School, which traditionally boasts the Valley’s largest graduating class, a whopping 40 students have risen to the esteemed valedictorian status in its Class of 2026.

Throughout the Valley, students’ hard work has helped their schools win impressive honors, such as the coveted awards from U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of America’s Best High Schools, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s Momentum Award and top standings in the Niche Awards for best high schools in the nation.

Receiving one or more of those honors this school year have been Canfield, Boardman, Austintown, Poland, Youngstown Early College, Mineral Ridge, Lakeview, Champion and Brookfield high schools.

The commencement ceremonies at schools and public halls throughout our region and our nation also serve as a reminder of the value of a high school diploma. They also should signal the urgency to increase the shamefully high absentee rates in some secondary schools across our region, state and nation. Locally, the Valley’s two largest urban districts – Youngstown and Warren — reported chronic absenteeism rates of 56% and 39% this week.

Students indeed sacrifice many personal and societal benefits when opting out of attaining that one valuable piece of paper. According to the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a high-school diploma recipient without a college degree:

● Earns an average of $10,000 per year more than a high-school dropout.

● Contributes more to a state’s economy and requires less public assistance than high-school dropouts.

● Becomes substantially less likely to be imprisoned or require public assistance.

In the Mahoning Valley, graduation rates have shown promising upturns. While some school districts, such as Lowellville and Weathersfield, routinely report rates at or near 100%, improvements have been logged elsewhere even in the Valley’s largest urban districts. Rates in Warren City And Youngstown City districts now hover near 90%. Not too many years ago, that rate in Youngstown was closer to a distressing 70%.

But in Youngstown and Warren, as in any school district, education leaders can only do so much. Parents and guardians of young people must work diligently to instill a culture that values learning and achievement. That includes monitoring their work closely, keeping lines of communication with teachers open, dishing out applause for good performance and punishing children when they purposely fail to apply themselves.

When schools, families and communities work together toward a common goal of educational excellence, our community, state and nation can more confidently entrust the future to those who proudly earn their ticket out of public schooling this spring and every spring.

For now, though, the grads have earned the right to bask in glory as they toss their caps proudly in the air.

Hail to all in the Class of 2026!