Reporter's notebook: This high school student is getting a job before his diploma

But it was something Beaumont ISD Superintendent Shannon Allen said after the board congratulated its three high schools' valedictorians and salutatorians that caught my ear, "This is the best time of the year." And she's right -- there is no time of the year quite like graduation. Beaumont ISD alone will graduate some 1,000 students this weekend and across Southeast Texas, thousands of students will be receiving their diplomas over the next couple of weeks. What a time to celebrate!

So first, congratulations to all the students who are graduating this year and best of luck on your future endeavors.

As the school year comes to a close, this education reporter has had the pleasure of attending all kinds of end-of-year events and celebrations. And while plenty of them have been in recognition of the hard work done, a lot of those events have been in preparation for the future, particularly the futures of local high school seniors. Let's take a trip to Mid-County to see what the future holds for one high school senior.

A unique opportunity

Over the past year, students across the region have signed with colleges and universities for athletic or academic scholarships, have signed letters of intent to join the United States Military and made various other commitments to institutions about their future plans.

For Nederland High School senior Tanner Garcia, that future plan includes working with Philpott Motors. Garcia, an auto technology student, on Wednesday signed a letter of intent to work with the center after his graduation. The company also gifted him his very own tool box.

The opportunity was born from the years-long partnership between Philpott and Nederland, according to Career and Technical Education Director Bryan Spell.

"Philpott approached us with a shortage of workers and said, 'We'd like to partner with y'all some way, how about we hire one of your students?'" Spell said. "(The school's automotive teacher) recommended Tanner. Tanner went through the interview process, application process and Philpott hired him to come work in their lube shop. It's a start for him, and he can work his way up."

Spell said he believes more companies will begin hiring technical education students right out of high school as people begin to "recognize the value that (career and technical education) brings to students."

"Not everybody is going to a four-year university," he said, adding that Nederland has 12 career and technical education programs and is always looking to expand and build upon that foundation.

Congratulations Tanner!

A special surprise

I don't know about y'all, but when I was in elementary school, every other year or so we would be tasked with writing a letter to someone -- a family member, someone famous, even an inanimate object like your favorite tree. Unless it was someone you knew personally, you never really thought you would hear back.

Well, it seems that writing exercise is still happening in schools. Port Neches Elementary fourth grader Cohen Giblin was tasked with the same prompt and he chose Academy Sports and Outdoors.

In his letter, Cohen said, "I chose you because y'all are my favorite store and I would love for a new pair of shoes for football. I would also be thankful if you came to (Port Neches Elementary) to surprise my friends in my teacher's class."

His letter, which highlighted Academy's staff members as "super nice and really helpful," evidently touched their hearts because they decided to honor his wish.

Representatives from Academy on Tuesday surprised Cohen and his classmates, gifting him some Academy-branded gear and a $150 gift card to purchase the football cleats he wished for. 

Click through the photos above to see his reaction.

It just goes to show that you should tell people what they mean to you -- you never know what can happen.

Yay for Cohen!