One of the nice things about producing a community newspaper in 2017 is being able to shine a spotlight on some of the extraordinarily talented young people in southern Chester County who will become the leaders of tomorrow.

This week, we have a story about a young man named Dylan Coyle who is pursuing a career in sports broadcasting. He just graduated from Oxford Area High School, and his next step is studying sports journalism at Temple University. One day, we could all be listening to him call a professional sports game. During the course of a typical year, we'll write about dozens of local students like Dylan who excel as students or athletes, or who work to make the world around them a better place.

In the last few weeks alone, we've covered the graduation ceremonies for Avon Grove, Kennett, Oxford, and Unionville, and at each one of these ceremonies, the accomplishments of the members of the Class of 2017 were celebrated. Local students accomplish quite a lot, as evidenced by their achievements on the sports field, in the classroom, on the stage, and in the community.

Dameron Berardi, a student at Kennett High School, was awarded the Widener University High School Leadership Award, an honor that is given to students who stand up for what is right, address a wrong, or make a difference in their community.

In the last school year alone, two Avon Grove sports teams—the swimming and diving squad and the lacrosse team—captured team state championships, the first for the school in 40 years.

Dozens of students from the four schools earned scholarships to prestigious universities to play sports. Just a few examples: Anna Juul, who competed in track and cross country at Unionville High School, will be heading to Harvard; Oxford's Sarah Johnson will be playing field hockey at Stanford University; Avon Grove's Doug Jones, a standout on the lacrosse team, will be heading to West Point. In addition to these athletes, local students earned tens of millions of dollars in scholarships for their work in the classroom.

Of course, it's not just the seniors in the Class of 2017 who are achieving at a high level.

In July, two Unionville High School juniors will be spending time at two of Pennsylvania's best universities as they participate in prestigious science and business programs. Katelyn Tsai will spend four weeks with students from around the country and world attending the Pennsylvania School of Global Entrepreneurship. Michael Iacocca will spend five weeks in Pittsburgh with students from all across Pennsylvania participating in the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Meanwhile, Eric Benjamin Gaver, a junior at Kennett High School, has been the recipient of an all-expenses-paid summer study trip to Germany after being selected as a national winner on the Level 4 2017 National German Exam for High School Students. Over 20,000 students participated in the program, and Gaver scored in the 90th percentile.

As we bid a final farewell to the Class of 2017, we would like to thank them for creating so many positive headlines. We are thankful for the opportunity to report on their achievements, and we look forward to seeing how they develop into the leaders of tomorrow.