NORTHVILLIANS,

It is truly the season for school celebrations. Downtown Northville has been abuzz with prom pictures, graduation gatherings and school colors in various store windows. And to top it off, on Saturday, a graduation parade drove down Six Mile Road ending at the High School for almost 700 graduates of NHS.  “Best Wishes Grads” has even been featured on the marquis of the theater. 
 
Go Mustangs, Go 2022 NHS Grads and CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL GRADS: High School, College, Grad School, even middle school and elementary school. Get ready for the first day of the rest of your life! (I know it’s cliché, but it's so true in this case).
 
In honor of our grads, I would like to reach back in history and look at some of the past graduations and activities in the Ville. 
Before jumping to “Graduations” let’s take a look at what’s happening in town:

Events

• Northville Car Show, 6/11 (2nd Saturday Monthly) – Now grown to a new location, ½ a block away at 212 W. Cady Street, behind Old Village School next to Library
   
• Northville Fourth of July Parade – Griswold to Main to Dunlap to Linden to Main Street to Center… starting at 10:00 AM
   
• Dancing in the Ville – Town Square, Wednesday evenings 6:30-8:00 PM. Arthur Murray teachers provide lessons for a variety of dance genres (all levels)
   
• June Concerts every Friday & Saturday at 7:00 PM – Downtown Northville
   
• Family Movie in the Park, Minions  – June 10^th, Ford Field, at Dusk
   
• Northville Garden Walk – July 13^th, 2022 … Link for information
   
• Northville Today – For additional info on Northville, see the latest issue of Northville Today. The latest edition features an article on the State of the Community and some local history. Please see this link to read online: http://mymediaflip.com/publication/?i=749758

Now let's take a look at Graduations in Northville through the years...

In honor of our grads, let’s reach back into Northville graduation history. This past weekend we saw the (Covid-inspired) NHS vehicle parade, with graduates decorating their vehicles with colorful streamers, cans, posters, college gear and colors from their school (Orange & Black). Administrators, teachers, parents, and thousands of Northvillians lined up along the sidewalks & greenspace down Six Mile to cheer on and congratulate the Class of 2022.

These past few years have been unique times with the pandemic, but our graduates persevered. The keys to the future are now in their hands and they are ready to make their mark.

Now for Graduation history …

• 1869 – First & only graduate of Northville High School that year, Alice Beal (Bealtown)
   
• 1889 – Commencement Exercises were in the Opera House on Dunlap & Center (800 seat capacity) – everyone in town showed up!
   
• 1909 – Ten graduates (commencement @ Methodist Church, Dunlap & Center)
   
• 1916 – Commencement was @ the Presbyterian Church
   
• 1924 – 1st Senior class to take a train trip to DC, boarding in Northville ($80 included transportation & hotel). This started a Northville 40+ year tradition.
   
• 1931 – 38 graduates, with commencement at Wayne County Training School Auditorium, on Sheldon between 6 Mile and 5 Mile Rd.
   
• 1939 – 80 graduates. “Mustangs” was chosen in a contest as the Mascot for NHS.  A natural choice: During WWII, Northville raised enough money for a P51 Mustang Aircraft AND because of Northville’s history and heritage for horse shows & horse racing. The Mustang name has been used since then.
   
• 1943 – 61 graduates (commencement at Northville Downs Fairgrounds)
   
• 1958 – 97 graduates (commencement at Community Center/Senior Center on Main Street)
   
• 1969 – 100^th graduating class, 183 students. Before this time, Novi & Northville were combined. With the split, Novi High School also had its first graduating class of 84 students this year (267 total between the two).
   
• 1977 – 384 graduates (commencement at the football stadium)
   
• 2015 – 555 graduates (commencement at Compuware Arena, as it has been for some years)
   
• 2022 – Close to 700 graduates, with an organized historic drive-by parade past the High School
   
• City of Northville Mayors that were NHS Grads: Chris Johnson & Brian Turnbull
   
• Famous Citizen (among others) Steve Juday: “All American Quarterback at MSU and Team Leader throughout the nation.  Demonstrated outstanding characteristics as a scholar-athlete and a credit to his school & community” (February 6^th, 1966, was Steve Juday Day in Northville).

Go Mustangs! ... Go Graduates! … Continue to make us proud. We are all standing on the shoulders of those that have come before us, and today we are handing the torch over to you…lead us into the future! You represent not only yourselves, but this community of Northville, your families and your school.

As the Mayor representing all Northvillians, know the community is extremely proud of the Class of 2022.

Keep that Northville Graduating Faith!