A long row of yard signs were posted, recently, near Petoskey High to introduce the community to some of the teens who comprise the class of 2022. They will participate in a grad ceremony this coming weekend.
Here are informal stats garnered just by perusing these signs (about 130 of them) which note the individual student's post high school plans.
Three grads are headed to the military; two have been accepted at Ivy League schools; a handful are headed to a career, apprenticeship, or gap year. No one is going to Hillsdale, but one student has been accepted at Liberty U and another at Northwood which is about as conservative-leaning as it gets.
While four grads were accepted to Michigan, over one-third of the "signs" will be attending North Central Michigan College. There are fine reasons to stick close to home and save money by studying at the local two-year college. However, it costs taxpayers about $200,000 per pupil to educate a Petoskey public school student for 13 years.
That, my friends, is a really expensive route to end up at a community college.