Over the last week or so, I’ve read countless stories in area newspapers about hopes, dreams, goals and just life in general.

There was talk about landmarks, memories and friendships — some good, others, well, maybe not.

Valedictorians, salutatorians, class presidents, principals and even a few famous alums stood before students, classmates and parents to extol the virtue of their previous 12 years together.

And it occurred to me that this same week, 50 years ago, I was one of those students.

It was hard to believe back then that as a card-carrying member of the Class of 1975 that I’d still be alive and kickin’ — albeit a little slower than I once did.

As I paged through the commencement coverage, I tried to recall just some of the wisdom imparted on that warm June night.

These days, I’m lucky to remember what I had for dinner last night, so I turned to that vast technological elephant that wasn’t born yet when I was in school — the Internet.

I found coverage of my high school graduation ceremony. My school was small, and our sports teams competed against places like Jim Thorpe, Panther Valley and Weatherly.

There was no keynote speaker, just the classmates with the top two grade averages and what I interpreted as a half-hearted “congratulations” from a local school director.

Our class had been through many things in the 12 years we were together.

A general feeling back then that “bigger was better” when it came to school districts had taken hold, and the small, community-based schools closed, their students shifted like cattle from building to building. In four years, I changed buildings four times and still was three years away from high school.

By the time that came around, my high school was condemned in the name of new construction and the Class of ’75 found itself in half-day sessions, back in the building that was a junior high. It seemed good at the time, but then, the less time we had to spend in the classroom, the better.

And on that graduation day, we faced other things.

A slowing economy, a wobbly job market, high energy prices, and expanding inflation weren’t foremost in our minds.

But somehow, we figured it out.

In the years between then and now, many of us were too busy with life, but a half-century later with more time on my hands I tried to draw some parallels with today’s grads.

I used my experience as a yardstick, hoping to measure what today’s seniors look back on and what they might see looking forward.

What I found was both unnerving and enlightening.

These kids were in school when a pandemic shut down the world. Many took their junior high lessons during COVID on a computer screen or by wearing a mask. When schools reopened, they had to retool their social skills.

Perhaps more than anything since the influenza outbreaks after World War I, the pandemic changed the way students learned, socialized and prepared for their future.

In a school career that had today’s seniors navigating social media since their early childhood, they learned that the same thing that held them together could also break them apart.

Being a teenager was tough 50 years ago. Today, I can’t imagine the pressures that our digital society puts on kids.

Cyberbullies, influencers, and just plain idiots mess with developing minds — with sometimes tragic consequences.

All that adds to what’s become the most divided society I’ve ever seen.

These young minds have seen things like the Black Lives Matter movement, discord on climate, transgender issues and a host of other topics, not to mention the politics of the day.

Those experiences help them form their own opinions going forward, shaping the way things might be down the road.

And speaking of moving forward, there’s the ever-evolving phenomenon of artificial intelligence. These seniors are the first grads in a world where AI affects nearly every industry. Its growth boggles the mind, and graduates will certainly be targets of that influence.

At this stage of life, I’m a different kind of senior — one who grew up with three television channels, a landline and a transistor radio.

The changes that folks my age have seen are many. Our work — as it was with those who came before us — paved the way for what today’s high school seniors have done and will experience.

It’s been said that a community’s success is measured by how it treats its young.

As parents, grandparents, educators and family members, I think we’ve done a pretty good job.

These kids will figure that out.

ED SOCHA | tneditor@tnonline.com