From kindergarten or preschool, throughout your senior year, you all have spent many hours of your life in a classroom. For 13 years of your life, you have been taught facts, figures and equations, spent hours writing reports, and playing sports. Now you are ready to move beyond being a high school student.

Now, many of you have the feeling that you are ready to leave the nest. You are ready to stretch your wings and fly. No longer will you be defined by what grade you have completed, or what sport you played in high school.

Most members of the Class of 2015 have the feeling that you have arrived. The time has come for you to move forward with your lives and make decisions that will affect your future, now and in the years to come. You are ready to make your mark in the world.

The world you are stepping out into is different from that your parents and grandparents entered into upon their graduation. To some it is mind-boggling how much the world has changed from what earlier generations have experienced. Through the Internet, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you have access to infinite information, unfortunately, both good and bad. The information age continues to expand at an increasingly faster rate and the world you will be moving into seems to move faster each day.

You have worked hard for to reach this point in your life. Many hours of studying, doing homework, working on projects and taking tests have concluded in the last few days of your senior year. You have made friends that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. You have had teachers and mentors that have invested their time and talents helping to mold you into the person you have become.

Many prayers have been said for you and over you throughout your life. More will be prayed as you make your way out into the world. Prayers for safety, prayers that you will make the right decisions for your future, and prayers that you will grow closer to God.

However, the tassel has moved, you have stepped forward into a new part of your life. Your status, and not just your Facebook status, has changed, from being high school students, to young adults, ready to take on the world. Many of you will enter college to continue your education, some will enter the work force and others will join the armed forces.

You will have many choices to make as you move into this part of your life. You have unlimited opportunities, many dreams to fulfill, and many adventures ahead of you. Go forward with these words:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

May God continue to bless and keep you in all your new adventures, both now and in the future. Always know that God, your parents, family and your friends unconditionally love you, and will always be there for you.

Randy Garrison is the president and publisher of the Hartselle Enquirer.