This Small U.P. Town’s Graduation Ceremony Screamed ‘Pure Michigan’

The U.P. (Michigan's Upper Peninsula for those not in the know) is a different place. Compared to the bustling cities of Detroit, Lansing, and Grand Rapids that many people think of when they think of Michigan, most of the U.P. is quieter, smaller, and less hectic.

I grew up in the U.P. in a very small town, and I can tell you that it is definitely one of those places where "everybody knows everybody" (and everybody knows everybody else's business.) And there's something to be said about growing up and going to school in the small, hidden gem towns scattered across "God's country".

One of those small towns is one that I'm quite familiar with - having grown up not super far away from there and playing against their teams in middle and high school sports. That town is DeTour, which isn't even a town, officially, it's a village.

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And it's in DeTour that they show that it truly 'takes a village' to raise a child.

The Most Unique Graduation Ceremony in All of Michigan

On May 18 the school held a graduation ceremony for their graduating class of 2024. The ceremony was unique for a few different reasons.

First, the DeTour Area Public School District class of 2024 consisted of only six students. Yes, six, not sixTY...

Another thing that made this year's graduation truly unique is where all of the graduating seniors live. You see, DeTour schools don't just have students from the village of DeTour proper. Children from the surrounding towns of Goetzville, Raber, and Drummond Island also attend the schools. Most years, you'll get a mix of kids from all of those places in a class. However, the DeTour graduating class of 2024 was comprised entirely of students who reside on Drummond Island.

That means that these six students had quite the trip to school every day - how many kids can say that their ride to school included taking a ferry (sometimes school was even canceled due to 'rough seas')? Every morning, the ferry would take them across the St. Mary's River to DeTour, and each afternoon/evening, the ferry would transport them back across the river to Drummond Island.

That ferry is just another thing that made the 2024 graduation ceremony for DeTour Area Schools unique. The ceremony itself was held on the deck of the Drummond Island Ferry.

In a Facebook post sharing photos of the day, the school district said,

After the fog lifted and the sun came out, we had an incredible graduation.

What a truly awesome and unique experience for these graduates and their families! That's a memory they'll all cherish forever.

If this made you want to take a trip to check out Drummond Island, get more information, and check out some other hidden gems of Michigan's Upper Peninsula: