A graduation message for Nebraska

For many high school and college students across our state, May has been a highly anticipated month when graduation day arrives.

My wife, Sally, and I are among the families preparing to celebrate as our son completes his undergraduate degree. He is one of more than 14,000 students earning a degree from one of Nebraska’s nearly three dozen college campuses this spring.

One of the most rewarding parts of my jobs as governor is the opportunity I’ve had to talk with students of all ages. The discussions I’ve had with high school and college students have shown me that we have some outstanding young people in our state.

I’ve visited with students who achieved top scores on their ACT or SAT exams, students who have represented our state at national and international events, and kids who have given back to their communities through any number of service-oriented groups. Whether it is our young people who have worked hard and excelled in the classroom, in athletics and any number of other extracurricular activities, I have confidence in saying that today’s students have so much to offer.

Parents deserve a special thank you for all that they do for their sons and daughters. As parents, we are very proud of our kids.

I also want to acknowledge the great work of our teachers, professors, administrators, support staff, mentors and all those who are part of the education of today’s students. Sally spent her entire professional career in classrooms and schools as an elementary school teacher and principal. Education was always an important part of our family and that experience has given me the opportunity to see firsthand what an outstanding job our educators do.

Graduating from high school is an important milestone, but more than ever before, two or four years of college are needed as young people enter the workforce. We are working very closely with the private sector to create more jobs here in Nebraska.

We want our young people to be able to live, work and raise a family and thanks to many public-private partnerships, Nebraska is making progress in creating job opportunities for today’s graduates and young professionals.

Three years we updated our economic development incentive programs, known as the Nebraska Advantage. Since taking effect, more than 150 companies have decided to expand or locate in Nebraska. These businesses will be investing more than $4.8 billion in our economy and creating more than 13,000 new jobs.

This year, we took our job creation efforts one step further by adding a new tier of incentives aimed specifically at attracting companies ready to create high-paying jobs here in Nebraska. The motivation behind the Nebraska Super Advantage was to focus on the next generation of Nebraskans by attracting quality, higher-paying jobs in an effort to encourage more of our young people to remain in our state.

From my conversations with today’s students, I know that our future as a state is very bright.

I am very proud of the young people in our state and I want to congratulate the many high school and college graduates who will receive their diplomas this month. My hope is that graduation will be a special day for each of them and a special day for the parents, siblings, friends, and others who will gather to celebrate their accomplishments.

Dave Heineman of Fremont is governor of Nebraska. He can be reached at P.O. Box 94848, Lincoln NE 68509-4848, (402) 471-2244, fax: (402) 471-6031 or e-mail at his Web site, www.gov.state.ne.us.