The saying at Warner Robins High School is “Tradition Never Graduates.” I have always thought that this was a poetic slogan that referred to the tradition of high standards at the school, year after year, generation after generation.

That is what it means. But it also means something else.

On May 26, our Ronnie graduated from Warner Robins High School. On May 27, after we had a party in his honor at our home, his father and I were too exhausted to do anything but sit. Ronnie came in the room and announced he was going to the farm -- meaning the Warner Robins High School Future Farmers of America farm.

I said something like “what are you talking about you have to work at the farm, you just graduated” to which my son replied to me, “Mama, at Warner Robins High, tradition never graduates.”

Chickens, it seems, don’t celebrate Memorial Day weekend and graduation festivities or observe summer vacation. The Warner Robins High School FFA chickens still need their eggs gathered every day, food put out and their water changed and filled.

Somebody has to be up there every day this summer and our Ronnie, now an alum, is one of those people.

So is his friend Jamaura Williams, who also walked across the stage and received her diploma that Saturday.

There are other seniors -- I mean alumni -- whom I don’t know personally who will also be taking their turns this summer, staying involved with something that meant a lot to them during their high school days and helping to ensure the success of it for next year’s students.

The fact that these young people are volunteering after they graduate says a lot about how much the farm and the FFA mean to them. It is also an indication of the respect they have for Warner Robins High FFA/agriculture teacher Veronica Sanders. It also says a lot about the pride that Warner Robins High instills into its students.

The FFA actually has a group for adults to support high school FFA programs called, appropriately for this article, an FFA alumni association. The title is a little confusing since to be a member you don’t have to be an alumnus of either the FFA or of that school. It is really like a booster club more than anything else.

Ronnie and Jamaura plan to do one more thing this summer before going off to college. They plan on being the first two members of the Warner Robins High FFA Alumni Association. They need a few more members before they can apply for their charter.

If you are interested in being a charter member of the Warner Robins High FFA Alumni Association -- either because you love Warner Robins High or because FFA meant something to you as a young person -- shoot me an e-mail and I will get you in touch with the two founding members.

Tradition, after all, never graduates from Warner Robins High.

Contact Alline Kent at 396-2467 or allinekent@cox.net.