One of our saddest happy times began last week at high schools and colleges across the Miss-Lou.

Graduation 2011 is a wonderful time of celebration for hundreds of students and their families. Congratulations are in order, certainly, but this time of year makes us a bit sad too.

It’s the end of a chapter. Some of the graduates may never live full-time in the Miss-Lou again. To the grads of Monterey, Vidalia, Ferriday, Alcorn State and Copiah-Lincoln Community College, we are proud of you. Your future is bright, and this community will be here to support you along the way.

Five more graduations are planned for the coming weeks, and we know this time of celebration will keep us smiling despite rising Mississippi River waters.

But graduation season wasn’t the only great news to get kicked off last week. Let’s review a few other stories.

4 Adams County Sheriff’s deputies helped area Special Olympics athletes carry the torch to this weekend’s summer games. The athletes performed in their respective sports this weekend like the stars we know they are.

4 Toes tapped to the beat Saturday at Historic Jefferson College for the annual Great Big Yam Potatoes Old-Time Music Gathering. The fiddle contest is a crowd favorite, for sure, and we are glad the college plays host.

As we near the much-anticipated Mississippi River crest and say goodbye to dozens more graduates in the week to come, we are reminded of one thing. A community is only as strong as its people, and the last few weeks have reminded us all of just how strong we are.