School is out and summer is underway for students throughout Guthrie County, and for many area seniors that have just graduated, school in the form they’re used to is a thing of the past.

We heard from Panorama Superintendent Kathy Elliot yesterday as she gave her returning students some parting summer thoughts, and today, she shares some advice with area graduates about to take their next steps in life.

“Be thankful for your parents… I just think when you get to be a senior you realize all of a sudden it truly is one of the big shifts in life.  I told my own children when they were going to college is ‘anybody can be successful in college if you just show up, do the work, and do the work on time’.”

Elliot also warns graduates not to get complacent with their time thinking they suddenly have so much of it on their hands.

“A lot of kids have a hard time when they get to college thinking that they’re so much more free and maybe they can get away with that, and I would say, ‘if when you go on to the next level, whether it’s work or college, get there on time, show up on a regular basis and do the work that they ask you to do’.”

Elliot concludes her advice to graduates by saying her formula for post-high school success “is not rocket science, it just takes consistency.”