It has long been a tradition, even for this newspaper, to honor student-athletes who agree to play their sport of choice at the collegiate level.

Those monumental achievements are typically celebrated with a signing ceremony, where family, friends, coaches and others gather to watch the students sign to play for their respective teams. A photo follows a few days later in The Sun. Many of those have likely been clipped out, hung on refrigerators or tucked into scrapbooks.

While we are glad to see student-athletes get their much-deserved recognition for their accomplishments, we are equally excited to see George Rogers Clark High School carry on a ceremony to recognize other students that started last year.

On Friday, hundreds of GRC seniors celebrated their post-graduation plans with the second annual college and career signing day.

Family members and friends gathered in the GRC auditorium to watch students sign certificates pledging to attend college, the military or enter the workforce.

While many students opt to seek post-secondary education, most of them will not be playing sports while there. Others are prepared to enter the workforce or the armed services directly after graduation.

All of these accomplishments and plans are ones to be celebrated. With a nearly 100 percent graduation rate at GRC and all students graduate college and career ready, this is a huge success to celebrate with the community, parents administrators, teachers and all those who were there to help the many graduating seniors make it to graduation day.

While we are also proud to see that student-athletes have long been celebrated for their accomplishments on and off the field, we are more proud to see all students being celebrated for their plans for big, bright futures.

We wish them all luck in their future endeavors and look forward to covering the annual college and career signing day for years to come.

Editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper’s editorial board. The board is comprised of publisher Michael Caldwell and managing editor Whitney Leggett. To inquire about a meeting with the board, contact Caldwell at 759-0095.