WAVERLY, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you haven't heard of Senior Day, that's because it's not everywhere. It's been a Humphreys County tradition for 26 years. This Senior Day has reason to be especially remembered.
"All the moms line up right here!" a voice shouted as parents and teens crowded under a pavilion at Waverly City Park. "We're going to do a group picture in the back! I need my seniors! Let's go! Let's go!"
Teens and moms picked up roses from a bucket and hurried over to their places. The roses are a smaller tradition in the larger tradition that is Senior Day in Humphreys County.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" smiled Loyce Holland, looking over the large group crowded together for the picture.
Loyce is the local business owner who set all of this into motion.
"26 years ago, my late husband Harold and I started Senior Day," she said. "We started with $1,500."
It's a lot bigger now. Loyce has led an effort collecting from businesses and residents for a total of more than $300,000. That money makes Senior Day. Most of it goes to scholarships for the more than 200 graduating Humphreys County teens.
Teens walked up to accept their scholarships to the cheer of the crowd.
Few could have a deeper appreciation of Senior Day than senior Aaron Goodwin.
"Oh, you couldn't ask for a better community," he said. "Definitely good for them to put together something like this."
Aaron's senior year has been more difficult than most us can imagine.
"I was working a lot, and I noticed I wasn't feeling as good as I was," he said. "I went to the doctor and got some blood work done."
Aaron was diagnosed with leukemia.
"I had four or five rounds of chemo," he said. "I got through that, and I got the bone marrow transplant."
Aaron is now in remission.
"It felt good walking out of there, knowing I didn't have to come back," he smiled.
Loyce's husband Harold died from cancer. Of course, hearing about Aaron had an impact on Loyce.
"Touched my heart," Loyce nodded. "I knew that my seniors today, I knew they would help me help him."
A small bucket reading Let's Help Aaron sat on a table. People walked by and put money inside.
"One senior, I looked in his wallet," Loyce remembered. "He had two dollars, and he put it in Aaron's bucket. If that don't touch your heart, I don't know what would."
Aaron said his senior year has given him something.
"A better appreciation of life, my mom, my dad, my girlfriend, anyone who's been with me through the whole thing," Aaron said.
"What do you think of that Loyce Holland?" I asked Aaron.
"I think she's a great person."
Between the crowd raising money and a resident matching the total, nearly $3,600 was raised for Aaron.
For Humphreys County, the selfless giving of Senior Day has become a pretty great passage for everyone there to start the rest of their lives.
"It's awesome how many people come together in something like this," Aaron said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Cole is a person I think everyone should meet. After saving his sister's life, he's in a fight for his own. And yet he lives so joyfully, performing on stage and continuing to do what he loves. His family's story will both inspire you and make you reflect on your own. Click if you want to watch one of the most impressive young men in action, determined to write the lines of his own story despite the circumstances.
-Rebecca Schleicher
