It takes a community

Mark DeLap
Posted 11/1/22

Weekly editorial by Mark DeLap

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

It takes a community

Posted

We are so beyond blessed in Platte County to have the children we have raised by solid parenting and a community that jumps in and helps raise each other’s kids.

Whether it’s supporting the hard work of a child who raises and sells that first steer, buying band candy or working a hospitality booth at a regional tournament.

Perhaps it’s the one who works the grueling track meets all day long carrying a stop watch, moving hurdles or announcing at a sporting event.

It’s all done to help raise the kids. Raising them with encouragement, tears of grief when they lose a parent or just being there to laugh at their jokes and cheer with them when they cheer.

This is usually what just the parents do in a bigger town, a larger high school or a life consumed with everything but family.

Witnessing the gathering of a community crowding around a fallen football player who lost a parent a day before the football game spoke volumes about the compassion of a community. And the nice thing was the fact that everyone was on the same page.

So nice to see that the red and the blue set their differences aside to see what was truly important.

This past weekend Wheatland hosted the regional volleyball tournament and what was amazing to see was Wheatland cheering together as they won the regional title and the other teams, Newcastle, Douglas standing and cheering with a team that had beaten them to get there.

Perhaps it is Wyoming. Perhaps it’s how this state comes together to raise cowpokes.

The congratulations this past weekend goes out to the No. 3 team in the state and the No. 1 team in the region. The Lady Bulldogs. Starting out the new year with a new coach and a new team was just entering into September and already had a losing record at 3-5.

As the team began to gel and the combinations on the court began to come together, Within the next week the team went 5-2 and began to show signs that perhaps they could be a good team. And then it hit. Since Sept. 9, the team has gone 17-1 and not only amassed a perfect record at home, but last weekend in a regional tournament that they hosted, they became regional champions.

This was part of a same team that missed going to state while watching a football team having some great success. And yet, last year, even in their heartache, they were cheering their hearts out for the football team and becoming a part of their success.

Kids from the community raising each other. And this year, it was the football team that hit some bumps in the road, but at the regional tournament, the stands were packed with community and athletes from other sports. Infectious trucking cheers, storming the court after each victory and never giving up on one another.

They had to learn this somewhere. It was parents that put differences aside and came together for the heart of the kids. One of the best things coming out of Platte County is not whether to cheer blue or red, but to cheer blue and gold in Wheatland. Black and White in Guernsey. Blue and White in Chugwater Red and gold in Glendo.

And the cherry on top of our county sundae is watching the kids from other high schools within our own county coming to cheer for other Platte County Teams.

This is a special breed in Wyoming and even a greater spirit that comes together to help raise each other in Platte County. We laugh together when it’s funny. We cry together when it’s sad. But no matter the weather, we are truly there for one another.

The meme that reads loud and clear is, “We’re all just walking each other home.” Nowhere does that resonate than right here in our hometown. Whether you buy a candy bar from the band or a goat from the FFA kids, you are all just raising one another and… walking each other home.