Saturday, May 24, 1997
Students take achievements to 'real world'
By LESLIE STRADER / Abilene Reporter-News
Leaving a trail of academic and extracurricular successes behind
them, the 36th graduating class of Cooper High School walked across
the commencement stage and out into the real world Friday night.
Cooper graduated 373 students last night - including approximately
50 from the Excel alternative high school - but they did not go
quietly. Principal Jim Short proclaimed their achievements before
an enthusiastic crowd in Moody Coliseum.
In the classroom, 155 of the graduates finished with an overall
grade average of 90 or above; 45 students scored 1200 or above
on the SAT college entrance exam and the total amount of scholarship
dollars the class has received so far is well over $2 million.
The choir, band and orchestra all earned sweepstakes awards
for their performances, and the athletic teams won six district
championships, not to mention a banner year in football.
Eleven students have opted to go into military service post-graduation;
15 will join the work force and 85 percent will attend a college
or trade school.
The class also held its first foreign student flag exchange
during the ceremony. Three foreign students received certificates
of attendance last night. The flags of their countries - Russia
and Germany - were flown at graduation and they were each presented
an American flag.
Valedictorian Marc Simpao and Salutatorian Megan Schubert used
the lessons given in Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses"
to encourage their fellow graduates about the future and the past.
Taking the line "I am a part of all that I have met,"
Schubert reminded the class of the various parts of the campus
to which they have contributed over the years - the fine arts
building, ROTC rooms, even the main office.
"We are moving on and we are happy to, but a part of us
will always remain at Cooper High School," she said. "Now
is the time to use what we've learned at Cooper High to make decisions
that will affect us the rest of our lives.
"Everything we were will end today. Let's make sure we
say good-bye (to the past) and turn and face the future and smile."
Simpao wondered if he wasn't the only one in the room last
night feeling the opposite extreme of senioritis, a "let
me outta here" disease that affects students sometime during
their last year of high school.
"By next August, we may feel as if we've been transported
to a whole different world," he said. "But our learning
experience doesn't end here. Education is what we make of ourselves
after school, how we prepare ourselves for life and how we relate
to other people."
Education is like a ladder, he said, and we must continue to
use it if we want to reach "our most cherished and prized
goals. How high we climb is based on how much knowledge and wisdom
we possess."
Simpao reminded his classmates that learning is a never-ending
process and if you take that to heart, you surely will be successful.
"The quest for knowledge is a life-long journey,"
he said. "Tonight marks one end of our ever-continuing education
and tomorrow marks the start of the next.
"If we strive for excellence, we will learn, we will grow
and we will not fail."
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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