• Brandon Leonard •
• Originally published May 31, 2008 at 11:19 p.m., updated May 31, 2008 at 11:19 p.m.

Like most high school graduates, these Bloomington grads say they have memories they’ll never forget.

Such as: picking on each other, crowding 16 around an eight-person lunch table, taking bus rides, breaking out into spontaneous song and supporting one another in extracurricular activities.

“It’s not just school,” said Michael Rosser as he and his friends chatted about some of their fondest memories since they became friends in elementary school.

As they sat together reminiscing about embarrassing, awkward and intimate stories, Rosser explained school activities were not the reason they were friends, but rather, they “hung out” because they had become like family.

Like many area graduates, Rosser, Feli Delgado, Kathy Rodriguez, Natasha Ramirez and Bryan Dooley went to Project Graduation this year, competing for prizes (such as laptops, mini refrigerators, DVD players, microwaves, TVs, MP3 players, cameras, bikes and other college student essentials) and enjoying the liberal amount of games, food and drink provided.

Chief Deputy Mark Daigle, who has been involved with Calhoun County’s Project Graduation for 11 years, said he has definitely seen a decrease in incidents and safety issues on graduation night since parents have been doing the Projects.

“Too many times I’ve had to go to someone’s home and tell them their child is never going to come home ever again. That’s one of the hardest things in law enforcement to do,” he said.

At the first Project Graduation in Calhoun County, the parents who organized it asked Daigle if he could provide security for the event. The officers, many of whom work in the schools’ offices and watch the kids rise from grade to grade, volunteered to do it but only if they could work “out of uniform,” Daigle said.

“It really turned out to be a good thing for us and the kids. And they get to see us as normal people,” Daigle said.

Keeping students safe is especially important for the deputy this year because he has a graduating senior.

“We want kids to remember graduation as something happy, not as a time when they lost a friend or a classmate,” he said.

And while the Bloomington group will leave for different colleges in the fall, the friends rejected the notion that they will grow apart.

“It’s easier to stay in touch now with things like MySpace,” Ramirez said.

“And text messages,” Delgado interrupted.

“And cell phones,” Rosser added.

“Yeah, you know, things like that,” Ramirez continued.

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