Michigan seniors arrive at school in style on Tractor Day
CARLETON, Mich. (AP) — Chase Harvell pulled into the Airport High School parking lot in southeast Michigan on Friday for one last time before next week’s graduation.
Harvell was driving a family vehicle, as he had done countless times before.
However, this set of wheels reached speeds of around 25 mph (40 km/h).
Harvell and dozens of seniors eschewed their cars and trucks for tractors, ATVs, golf carts and more.
It was all part of Tractor Day, a celebration dating back to the 1980s at the school in Carleton, Michigan, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Detroit. Most students arrived at 7:30 a.m., but the fun would continue throughout the day with games, music, and lunch prepared by a local restaurant.
The annual event is not only a fun farewell celebration for seniors, but also serves to honor the area’s agricultural heritage.
“We are just a farm school,” Harvell said. “It’s a tradition. Everyone before us did it. We continue it.”
On Friday, the fourth-generation farmer got behind the wheel of a Case 305 Magnum, the same tractor that tills the land where he and his family grow soybeans and corn. And the car his older brother drove to Tractor Day three years ago.
Myah Hoppert arrived bright and early, riding a John Deere 8300 that could practically drive itself to school at this point. The same tractor had carried Hoppert’s two sisters and eight cousins to Airport High School at past Tractor Days.
“It’s my last day with all my friends,” said Hoppert, who plans to study nursing at Monroe County Community College next year.
Austin Neddo, who may have the distinction of having the most vintage ride, said Friday was “one last hooray.” He arrived in a restored 1940 Farmall A that once belonged to Neddo’s great-great-grandfather.
As class treasurer, Jocelyn Kleman helped organize Friday’s festivities, which she described as “our last recess.” He expected 150 of the approximately 180 seniors to attend Tractor Day.
Kleman and two friends got into an all-terrain vehicle known as a “side-by-side.” Like other Airport students, she had been looking forward to this day for four years, after only being able to watch the end-of-year fun from classroom windows.
“You could see how much fun the seniors were having,” said Kleman, who plans to attend Michigan State University in the fall. “What a nostalgic event this really is.
“And how the seniors look forward to this every year.”
