The Luxemburg-Casco School District will be the first in the area to say goodbye to its seniors when it hosts commencement exercises Wednesday.

“Purpose-driven” is how Principal Tyson Tlachac describes this year’s senior class of 164 students, led by valedictorian Rylen Hinckley and salutatorian Anna Annoye. While 41% of the senior class is heading to four-year institutions, the majority will attend technical colleges or trade schools, begin apprenticeships or enter the workforce.

Tlachac credits the district’s youth apprenticeship participation rate of nearly 63% and growing involvement in UW-Green Bay’s Rising Phoenix program — which allows students to graduate with an associate degree while still in high school — as reasons many seniors are entering postsecondary life with a clearer path.

With many students attending either Northeast Wisconsin Technical College or UW-Green Bay, Tlachac said he is hopeful many of them will remain in the community after graduation.

Wednesday’s ceremony at Luxemburg-Casco kicks off graduation season, followed by Southern Door on May 24, Kewaunee on May 27, Sturgeon Bay and Gibraltar on May 31, Algoma on June 1, and Sevastopol and Washington Island in June.