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We often hear about this upcoming generation, and how we’re all in trouble whenever they reach adulthood and are the one’s making decisions that impact our society.

Our parents said the same thing about us, and our grandparents said the same about our parents.

We think some of those worries are valid, especially given how much technology now impacts our lives compared to how it was when many of us grew up.

But, it’s also overblown.

A good example was Friday. Every single year we produce our annual Pigskin Preview football magazine, meaning we always gather students from all of the area high schools for photos. We pick the time, Callaway Stadium is always the location and then we call coaches, asking for a player, cheerleader or band representative for their team.

Then, we’re at the mercy of 15, 16, 17 and 18 year old students, who have to show up, actually be in full uniform and be picture-ready. In the middle of summer. Two weeks before school starts back.

Yeah, it’s a lot to ask.

And every single year just about every student shows up. There are sometimes scheduling conflicts, but we do our best to work around them.

On Friday, we had more than half of the 16 students there ahead of time, meaning they were actually waiting on our photography to pull up. They were fully dressed, with all their equipment and ready to go.

It was in the 90s outside, right in the middle of the day, yet we got no complaints as we positioned them for photos and asked them to smile.

The photos are all part of our cover contest, which will be held on our website next week, and students were more than happy to take part. We thank them all for being there and for taking time out of their summer to let us take a few photos in an effort to produce the best magazine we can. And we thank local coaches for getting them there.

We know student athletes are used to reworking their schedules and being asked to be prompt and prepared. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t impressive.