Tennessee weekly does feature stories on top 10 graduates

The Hickman County Times profiles the top five graduates of each high school and lists each school's Top 10.

By Al Cross

Director and Professor, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky

One of my favorite annual features in a rural newspaper is the "Top Ten" series in the Hickman County Times of Centerville, Tenn., about the top 10 graduates of the county's two high schools. Many papers profile valedictorians and salutatorians, but those choices are often close calls, so more profiles mean more well-deserved recognition.

Editor-Publisher Brad Martin told The Rural Blog, "These are among the best young adults we produce, so why not tell about how they got to this high level of academic achievement? Plus, folks like to complain about today's youth, so I thought these kids are a good representation of the best. . . . I have received good though muted reaction. Most readers will know one or two of these kids and they enjoy reading about them, from what I am told."

The weekly has been publishing the profiles since 2000. When the county got a second high school, Martin started profiling the top five students in each graduating class. The rankings are issued around March 1, leaving time for just one story a week in the 10 weeks before commencement.

Hickman County (Wikipedia map)

Until now Martin has written all the profiles, except the year he was recovering from surgery. Now that he is publisher, he writes, "I have farmed out the entire series. Kirsten Lane did the first five, from Hickman County High, where she is a junior (you've featured her...); William Hayes, my first full-time reporter, is in the midst of the five top students from East Hickman High. His No. 5 story will publish May 8, just before graduation."

Many of the profiles report that the students don't plan to return to Hickman County after college, and Martin reports "no pushback" from readers. "In Hickman County, where two-thirds of the workforce commutes elsewhere every day, that issue is pretty well understood. My view is that they are our kids and they ought to be celebrated."

Another example for rural newspapers to follow: Nine years ago, Martin did a Page 1 story with the other side of the coin, reporting that most graduates didn't continue their education in the year after they got their diplomas. At the time, about 55 percent of high-school graduates across Tennessee continued their education in the next year, but only 40 percent of Hickman County graduates did.