Enjoy the moment
on a special evening

Tonight will be a night with a lot of smiling faces in the eight communities that make up the Freehold Regional High School District as 2,400 seniors conclude their high school education.

It is graduation night — a night when administrators, teachers, parents, family members and friends can celebrate the accomplishments of another group of young adults.

The school communities will gather at their respective high schools to mark the occasion with music, speeches, laughter and tears.

The members of the class of 2004 will be reminded of their achievements. In a few cases the ceremonies will honor the lives of some students who, tragically, did not live to complete their high school years.

Commencement at Colts Neck, Freehold Township, Howell, Manalapan and Marl-boro high schools will begin at 6 p.m. In Freehold Borough, graduation ceremonies at Free-hold High School will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Once again, the year has been full of tremendous accomplishment by the motivated students who attended the district’s six schools.

Students made their marks in academic competitions, in interscholastic sports, in the arts, science, mathematics and so much more. Many of those accomplishments have been chronicled in the pages of this newspaper since September.

And while tonight marks the end of one journey, it signals the start of another for students who will go on to college, to the business world, to military service — to everything that is a part of the "real world."

Our wish for these young adults does not change from one year to the next. We wish them health, happiness and success in their future endeavors.

They might take a moment tonight to thank a special teacher, guidance counselor or administrator who helped them at a particularly challenging time. They should savor the moment, for there will never be another one like it, and 25 years from now they will be amazed at how quickly life has flown by.