A good percentage of the local population attended a high school graduation or an open house honoring a graduate over the weekend. The ceremonies and celebrations are a long-standing and formal tradition worthy of the pomp and circumstance associated with them.

It is no easy task getting a child to that point. We congratulate the parents who got them there. We also wish to pay tribute to all the educators - kindergarten through high school - teachers, principals, counselors and other staff for their guidance.

In Sunday's edition, we congratulated the 92 seniors honored as the top graduates from the 14 public and private high schools in Black Hawk County, Waverly and Janesville.

The top five students from each institution were selected by their schools based on academic achievement. The schools were permitted to submit the names of more than five students if their top graduates had virtually indistinguishable grade-point averages.

Encouraging news also in Sunday's edition was the fact that most of those top graduates will be attending Iowa universities next fall.

Twenty of them will be attending the University of Northern Iowa. That's more than either the University of Iowa or Iowa State University - which tallied 14 each. That is another bonus for the Cedar Valley area.

Seven graduates will be attending Wartburg College in Waverly, eight will be going to Hawkeye Community College and one to Allen College for a total of 36 of the grads who will be attending higher education programs in the Cedar Valley region.

Our graduates and parents are indeed fortunate to have such quality local institutions as options for their higher education needs.

While these grads still have to make their choices on where to begin their careers after college, starting their post high school academic endeavors in Iowa increases the chances of them staying in the state after completing their post high school education.

They'll have plenty of people working hard to come up with ideas and opportunities to keep them here.

More than 250 Iowans have applied to be on the Generation Iowa Commission, created this year by the Iowa Legislature to help keep young Iowans in the state.

Gov. Chet Culver will sift through the applications and appoint 15 people to serve on the commission along with four lawmakers.

Iowa's leaders have tried numerous strategies to keep the best and brightest here in Iowa. That even included an unsuccessful proposal that would have exempted Iowans under 30 from paying income tax.

With an eye on economic growth, it is our hope the commission and others are able to come up with strategies to keep more of Iowa's best-educated people in Iowa. However, on a personal level, we can't begrudge a young, educated Midwesterner who is afflicted with a case of wanderlust.

Whether in Iowa or out of state, a college education is becoming increasingly important even as tuition rates soar. As competition increases in the global marketplace, even specialized jobs are being outsourced to other countries at an exponential rate. If our younger generations are not successfully educated in this ever-increasing competitive world the chances increase they will end up in low-skilled and low-paying jobs.

Some of these recent high school graduates have earned many honors and have received sholarships of various value levels. Others scraped by, finishing required assignments during the final days leading to graduation. The majority is in between. Some didn't make it to graduation, but all face a new set of challenges that come with adulthood.

Whether you're continuing your education, entering the work force, leaving the state or staying, we offer our congratulations to all of the recent graduates and wish you well in your new endeavors.