How North Carolina High School Graduation Rates Stack Up
It’s high school graduation time. The numbers are in and research has been conducted, and now, we have information on North Carolina high school graduation rates and how they stack up to other states. South Carolina is in here, too.
North Carolina High School Graduation Rates
Graduation is an exciting time, both for high school and college graduates. I went to my little cousin’s high school graduation last weekend, and it was really fun to honor her and celebrate what she’s going to bring to the world as a young adult. Having graduation parties to honor the graduations is such a fun tradition, and I hope it never goes away. People are having more college gradation parties these days, too, which I’m all about. I had one when I graduated from Michigan State University. I’ve always wondered about the tradition of wearing a square graduation cap. As it turns out, “The mortarboard is another anachronism from the university’s medieval holy days,” according to InterestingFacts.com. In the 11th century, a newly ordained clergyman would get a round skullcap, referred to as a calotte. That tradition stayed, and eventually, “the hat evolved from a small skullcap to a round and puffy beret (called a pileus rotundus) to a square-shaped hat (called a pileus quadratus, which supposedly saved time and fabric). Today, it’s a graduation tradition. Now, let’s get into South and North Carolina high school graduation rates.
So, what are the North Carolina high school graduation rates and how to they stack up? The experts at USNews.com have put together a roster of each state and that state’s graduation rates. They note that, “The average state graduation rate across 49 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. (recent data was not available for Oklahoma) was 79% for the 2021-2022 academic year, up two percentage points from the year prior.” So, graduation rates are going up across the country, which is a good thing. “Graduation rates for these states and D.C. ranged from an average of nearly 73% to 92%, according to data from each state’s department of education website.”
In North Carolina, the graduation rate from the latest data, 2021 to 2022, was 86.4%. That’s actually down just a touch from the 2020-2021 number, which was 87%. In South Carolina, the graduation rate for 2021 to 2022, was 83.8%. That’s up a little from the 2020 to 2021 number, which was 83.3%. Those numbers are higher than the national average, so I would say South Carolina and North Carolina graduation rates are both pretty high. Virginia had the highest graduation rate in the country, being 92.16% in 2021 to 2022 and 93% from 2020 to 2021.
Signs You'll Live a Long Life
1. You Eat These Healthy Things
According to a University of Michigan study (via TheHealthy.com), “Women who consumed the most veggies and fruit had a 46 percent lower chance of dying over a five-year period compared with those who ate them infrequently. The study involved 700 participants in their 70s.
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2. You Workout (Specifically, Run 40 Minutes a Day)
According to NBCNews.com, “Scientists in California found that middle-aged people” who ran “for a total of about 5 hours per week lived longer and functioned better physically and cognitively as they got older.” They state that the “researchers tracked runners and nonrunners for 21 years.” Aside from running, CNBC.com states that, “Strength training twice a week and aerobic exercise three times a week, even if for just 10 minutes a day” also helps.
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3. For Women, You Had a Baby After Age 44
For women, if you were pregnant and had a baby naturally after age 44, “you’re about 15 percent less likely to die during any year after age 50 than your friends who had their babies before age 40, reports a recent University of Utah study,” via NBCNews.com. Lead researcher Ken R. Smith, PhD, professor of human development at the university, tells NBCNews.com, “If your ovaries are healthy and you are capable of having children at that age, that’s a marker that you have genes operating that will help you live longer.”
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4. You Socialize
The National Library of Medicine states that people with bigger social networks and who socialize tend to live longer. In the study, Dr. Freeman states, “People who have more social support tend to have enhanced mental health, cardiovascular health, immunological functioning, cognitive performance, resilience, life satisfaction, stress response and more.”
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5. You're Slim in the Waist
TheHealthy.com states that, “Women with a waist of 37 inches or more had a life expectancy that was five years lower after age 40 than did women with a waist of 27 inches or less, found one study. For men, a waist of 43 inches or more was linked to a three-year decrease in life expectancy compared with those with a waist of 35 inches or less.”
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6. You Drink Tea Each Day
Apparently, drinking one or two cups of tea a day is good for your health. “Both green and black tea contain catechins, which relax blood vessels. However, you should be making the tea yourself; in ready-to-drink teas, most of the catechins have probably dissolved already, so they don’t have quite the same heart-healthy power,” says TheHealth.com.
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7. You're Careful with Your Calories
“Researchers in St. Louis reported that men and women who limited their daily calories to 1,400 to 2,000 (about 25 percent fewer calories than those who followed a typical 2,000-to 3,000-calorie Western diet) were literally young at heart — their hearts functioned like those of people 15 years younger,” says NBCNews.com. So, make every calorie count, and keep calories low.
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8. You Get Your Sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep is important to overall health. According to CNBC.com, getting good sleep is one of the factors to make it to age 90. So, turn off Netflix and get some shut eye.
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9. You Have a Purpose in Life
Do you wake up each day with a purpose? Do you feel needed in this world? According to a 2014 study in the journal of Psychological Science, having a sense of purpose means you’ll have a longer life. In the study, they report that people in the study who passed away, about 10% of the participants, had reported lower scores for purpose in life.
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Bonus - Take This Longevity Test
The experts at Media.nmfn.com actually have a lifespan test that you can take online. I took it, and I won’t divulge the age is says I’ll make it to, but I was happy and pleasantly surprised by the result. It asks you some basic health and family questions. Take the test here, and hopefully you’ll be happy with the result.
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