Pictured: Venice High School seniors receive the STRIVE Award at the May 5 Success Can’t Wait Celebration. Provided photo.

With spring fully underway, a meaningful milestone draws near. Graduation season is upon us in Sarasota County. It’s a time when caps are tossed skyward, families gather to celebrate, and a community pauses to recognize achievement and promise for the future.

This year, that sense of promise feels especially powerful.

Sarasota County Schools is celebrating a remarkable graduation rate of 94.3% for the 2024–2025 academic year, which is the highest in district history and a 1.8% increase over last year’s record-breaking rate. Behind that number are thousands of individual stories: students who persevered, educators who guided, and families who stood steadfast in support. It reflects what can happen when a community aligns around a shared belief that every student deserves the opportunity to succeed.

And Sarasota continues to show up.

In April, our community once again came together for the Giving Challenge, a powerful reminder of what is possible when neighbors invest in neighbors. Shortly after, we saw record numbers turn up for the Education Foundation’s third annual Ringling Bridge Run. This event is designed to bring runners together, uniting the community in purpose. Step by step, mile by mile, participants moved forward with students and teachers at the heart of it all. Yes, it was a race, but it was also a reflection of who we are.

That spirit carried into one of the most meaningful moments of the season: the Education Foundation’s Success Can’t Wait celebration on May 5, where we had the privilege of honoring public and charter school students from across Sarasota County with $172,400 in awards and scholarships to help launch their postsecondary journeys. With additional scholarships to come before the end of the academic year, that number will exceed $200,000. This recognition represents a vote of confidence, an investment in potential, and a message to students that their community believes in them.

Together, these moments tell a larger story.

They remind us that success in Sarasota County is not accidental. It is built through partnership, through generosity, and through a deep and abiding commitment to our young people. From the classroom to the community, from early learning to graduation day and beyond, we are creating pathways that ensure students don’t just graduate, but graduate with a purposeful plan and a sense of belonging.

As we celebrate this historic graduation year and the students behind it, we also celebrate the community that made it possible.

Because in Sarasota County, education is not just a priority, it is a shared promise. And as we continue our mission to support every student in reaching their fullest potential, one thing remains clear: we could never do this work alone.

The good news is, we don’t have to.

In Sarasota County, the support for education is not only visibly strong, it is unparalleled.

Jennifer Vigne is the President and CEO of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County.

Pictured: Venice High School seniors receive the STRIVE Award at the May 5 Success Can’t Wait Celebration. Provided photo.