Consider the questions we ask our youth

Two of the 2024 McCook High School graduates with their gifts from McCook Community Foundation Fund where they are asked to stay or return to their hometowns.

Courtesy photo

Every May, the McCook Community Foundation Fund is allowed to be part of the McCook High School graduation practice, which includes several components to prepare for the actual graduation a few days later.

One role of MCFF at the practice is distributing a graduation gift to all of that year’s soon-to-be graduates. The gifts have included an actual mailbox to remind the students of where they came from with the outline of Nebraska and a star in McCook’s location within the state. The mailboxes could often be seen at graduation receptions, as the perfect receptacle for graduation envelopes. More recently, the gifts have been portable chargers or water bottles, all with a note reminding them that their hometown wants them to stay or return.

MCFF also coordinates speakers for the graduation practice, who share their personal message about why they chose to stay in McCook or why they have returned.

Some of the speakers immediately entered the local workforce after graduation. Others gained skills training or earned a two-year degree. And some finished their higher education elsewhere, perhaps met a spouse, started a family and decided that McCook was where they wanted to raise their family.

Every person has a different path and a different story. But the message by each speaker to the students was the same at the end: We want each and every one of you to return and live in your hometown. This applies in McCook or any of the small communities across our area.

This hasn’t always been said to our young people. A survey of our young people around 2012 had a question that asked if anyone had ever asked them to move back. The number of students who answered yes was drastically low. And that is why MCFF started the project of inviting young people to stay or move back to their hometowns.

And we have made progress in this area. The survey of young people is done every few years and the answer to the question about if anyone has asked them to return home is shifting from a majority “no’s” to more and more answering “yes.”

But recently I heard a new question popping up that has caught my attention and I have even found myself asking it of young people.

“What are you doing here?”

The question seems innocent enough because you are simply inquiring what they are doing with their lives at that point.

You may run into a young person at the county fair and pose the question “What are you doing here?” You may pass a college student walking down the sidewalk on Norris and again ask “What are you doing here?” You may run into a former high school student at the YMCA and ask “What are you doing here?”

But if you really start to think about that question, it can imply several other reasons, such as “you aren’t supposed to be here” or “shouldn’t you be somewhere else” or “I assume you aren’t staying long.”

What if we rephrase the question or add to it? “What are you doing here? It is great to have you back.” “What are you doing here? I hope it is because you are moving back.” “What are you doing here? We’ve missed having you in the community.”

Or it could be as simple as “It is great to see you here” when we see a young person who has returned for a short visit or has moved back to the community.

When we are talking to our young people, we need to consider the questions we ask them and where those questions may lead. We can ask them “What are you doing here?” but we need to be ready to ask the next question that will hopefully lead them to returning and staying in their hometowns.