by Shelley Bennett
You know I love a “local kid does good” story, so please indulge me this week with a story about my son Landon.
When Landon graduated with the Class of 2020 in the middle of a pandemic, I thought I couldn’t be prouder.
As class president, he helped make difficult decisions, organized a drive through graduation, and delivered a speech to the biggest audience ever as it was broadcast on the radio and YouTube.
He did all of this while supporting his mom’s meltdowns, holding a full-time job, and maintaining his stellar grades. He did all of this while being kind, positive, and true to himself.
Covid would change his college dreams of going to Cal Poly SLO. Instead, he has attended Lassen Community College for the last two years and been challenged with online classes in difficult subjects, like Chemistry, Micro Biology, and Statistics.
The past two years have been filled with working hard and playing hard for Landon. He has been a faithful employee to Al and Joy Robbins and has also worked at New Image Gym.
He loves to work out and you have probably have seen him running down Main Street (sometimes shirtless). He has taught himself how to dunk, learned how to do laundry, and can cook pretty decently. He takes time to camp and fish with friends and volunteers with the Lassen Sportsmens Club.
With work and perseverance comes rewards and opportunities to rise and tomorrow Landon will start the next part of his educational journey at Cal Berkeley. As I write this and the tears run down my face, I am content with Landon flying the nest.
I know that it is something that has to happen. His potential is unlimited as he leaves his home of the last (almost) twenty years.
And as I think about how he will navigate eating in the dining hall, traverse a campus almost as big as our city limits with three times as many people, and make friends, I know he’ll approach it as he always has: with a never-give-in work ethic and a creative solution.
We will miss our middle child. Our life of the party. Our Landon Lou. But we couldn’t be prouder.
Remember when news was ‘newsy’? When you read about weddings, family events and engagement announcements in the newspaper? If you have something that might be newsworthy, please submit it to shelleybennett24@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to include it here in “The Good Stuff.”
