Spirits were high Thursday evening when four area high schools — Dallas County, Selma, Keith and Southside held their graduation ceremonies, and though students are moving on, school officials stopped to reflect on the busy school year.

“We’ve had a good school year,” Dallas County School superintendent Dr. Fannie McKenzie said. “We’ve implemented several new initiatives such as the math and science competition and became a part of the national initiative — Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) competition. We’ve done some really good things in professional development as well.”

In early March, Dallas County Schools made homemade robots to square off with students from across the state in the BEST competition. Dallas County High School placed first for best robotics competition, Keith High won third place in marketing and Martin Middle won first place in sportsmanship. Students from Tipton Middle put together brochures of their projects along with other items to enhance their presentation, giving them third place for both interviews and table display.

With the success of the programs, McKenzie wants to implement even more competitions.

“We want to enhance our programs with BEST and more competitions in writing and debating,” McKenzie said. “As we come together as an administrative team, we want to engage and reflect on the school year and assess our successes and failures.”

McKenzie, who has been in the school system for more than 30 years, wants to do things a little differently for next school year.

“We’re putting emphasis on rigor, training our supervisors and principals on what rigor looks like using a ‘rigor meter,’ or measuring apparatus,” McKenzie said. “Principals will then take that same meter to their teachers and give them exercises in rigor. We want to get appropriate feedback and decide on what we need to add, keep or throw out in order to engage in progress.”

And for seniors embarking on their new journeys in life, McKenzie said it’s all about choices.

“I want to remind them that their graduation marks an end of an era and the beginning of a new era,” McKenzie said. “Whether students choose college or gainful employment, students have the opportunity to make this next era whatever they desire. We wish them much success.”

Selma City School Superintendent Don Jefferson did not wish to comment.