“It’s just hard to believe it’s already here. Four years has flown by,” Lane Zike said. “Every year was faster.”

The 18-year-old Brownstown Central High School senior is on his way to graduate with a Core 40 diploma at 10 a.m. Saturday in the school gymnasium.

Zike played football and was a member of the Letterman’s Club.

One of his proudest accomplishments at BCHS was being a part of the commercial driver’s license (CDL) class, helping bring it to the school for the first time this year for seniors.

He expressed concerns with the shortage of truck drivers and how jobs like those are the ones he is most interested in.

“It’s a need in today’s world and not very many people are wanting to do it,” Zike said.

After high school, Zike plans to pursue a career as an electrical lineman, which would require him to have a CDL. Now that he’s earned one, he doesn’t have to worry about getting one in lineman school.

To further his education, Zike would like to attend the Southeast Lineman Training Center (SLTC) in Georgia. He wants to work out of state for a couple years before coming back to Jackson County, potentially then finding work back home. While Georgia’s far away, he wants to go out of state to see what opportunities are out there and solidify that this is the career path he wants to take.

He feels pretty good about moving because he “knows he has a good community to come back to.”

Zike said the reason why he wants to become an electrical lineman is to help out where people are less willing to in a big way.

“Not many people want to go out in a storm; they want to stay in,” Zike said. “I want to be able to serve my community and the people in the world to make sure their power’s on.”

An inspiration in Zike’s life is his father, Seth Zike, who works with Aquatic Control in the Cortland area. Lane said his father is involved in the community and knows everybody.

“He’s made an impact on a bunch of people’s lives,” said Zike.

High school can be full of many life lessons, and one of Zike’s takeaways was to get out there and talk to the people around him before it’s too late.

“Never back away from meeting new people,” he said. “Get to know everybody.”

With how fast time can fly, Zike said you could see your fellow classmates, teachers and other members of the school every day for four years, but after you graduate, you may not see any of these people ever again.

“Our school is just such a great place,” said Zike. “It truly is. Everybody gets along. […] I cannot thank [every coach enough that] I’ve had; they made me a better person.”