To the editor:

The 2024 graduations are over. Students graduated from St. Bernard’s, the Saranac Lake Middle School and the 2024 graduating senior class of Saranac Lake High School.

The Keough family has presented Good Neighbor Awards for over 40 years to citizens and students.

Each year the graduating students select a boy and a girl from their class that they feel have met the criteria of a “Good Neighbor.” The awards are presented at the awards ceremony at each school on the last day of school.

The Good Neighbor Award is not based on popularity but on criteria provided to them before the students make their selections.

The class is asked to make their selections, based on the student’s continuing awareness of the general student body, faculty and community. Fellow students look for qualities that are mirrored in their interaction with others.

These qualities include:

¯ They are positive in nature.

¯ Seek the positive in others.

¯ Look for positive solutions.

¯ Have qualities that are desirable in daily behavior with others.

¯ Have personal respect for themselves and others.

¯ Are reliable, pleasant, kind and loyal.

¯ Are sensitive to the feelings of others.

¯ Treat all persons with respect, fairness, courtesy, kindness, understanding, compassion and support.

¯ Are interactive with all persons and not just the popular in groups.

¯ Have a strong set of personal values.

¯ They are consistent.

¯ Have the inner character to stand by their values and do what is right, even if it is not the popular in thing to do.

This year’s students selected by their classmates are:

¯ St. Bernard’s: Selene Knobel Cole Bourgeois

¯ Middle school: Kathryn Hoffnagle and Hayden Damour

¯ Saranac Lake graduating seniors: Lucy Thill and Nash Carlisto

Congratulations to them and to all students as they move forward in life.

We wish all students good health, happiness, and fulfillment.

Ron and Peg Keough

Saranac Lake

On behalf of the Keough family