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Polk County Education 12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 8, 2016 Boyack: Stay classy, Central High School By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — Cen- tral High School senior Han- nah Boyack signed off for the last time on Friday. “Stay classy, Central High School,” she said, finishing her final morning an- nouncements in her usual manner. Boyack embodies the slo- gan, reaching out with kind- ness and class to those around her — even when it’s hard. The senior was home- schooled until her freshman year at CHS. “When I chose to come to public school, I had this feeling that it would proba- bly be a good thing for me,” Boyack said. “Although there were parts about high school that I may not have loved, there was a lot of parts that I did. And it taught me to be kind to peo- ple in all situations, whether I wanted to or not.” Kindness is a priority value for Boyack, who or- ganized a kindness cam- paign in November. She and a small group of students put signs all over the school to be kind to each other — even posting thoughtful notes on lockers of strangers — in efforts to spread a positive spirit around the school. Boyack is perhaps most well-known around Central for her efforts in theater and music. She has starred in many of Central’s produc- tions. When she wasn’t on stage, she was heavily in- volved in set design or other aspects of the plays. She also has acted in sev- eral plays and musicals at Pentacle Theater. Her favorite thing about theater is getting to know people and other characters by becoming someone else. “You learn about other people and you’re able to sympathize with people and understand people better,” Boyack said. “I really like ex- ploring how people work. I like happy people, so when I understand what makes people sad, it helps me un- derstand how I can help them be happier again.” Theater and music are a big part of Boyack’s life. “Of course my big dream would be to perform profes- sionally, but that’s not the most important thing to me,” Boyack said. “Having a family and doing other things are more important to me.” She said the career she will focus on is following in her mother’s footsteps and teaching music and theater in high school. Hannah’s mother, Wendy Boyack, ac- tively helps teacher Jeff Witt with all musical produc- tions, and is a teacher’s as- sistant for the production class. Hannah will attend Willamette University in fall and study music, with plans to add theater in later. She said high school — not that it’s Central’s fault, she noted — hasn’t really prepared her for life. “I would say high school in general is missing some things to prepare you for adulthood,” she said. “Like, I have no idea how finance works, or how to ‘adult.’ High school prepared me to pass classes, but I don’t know how high school pre- pared me for other things.” Boyack’s advice to under- classmen would be to be kind, respectful, honest and trustworthy — and try not to procrastinate too much, something that she started doing more and more after her freshman year. “As a freshman, I was real- ly determined to make sure everything was on time and be the best student I could possibly be,” she said. “Un- COURTESY OF CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL/ Itemizer-Observer Hannah Boyack, right, heads to Willamette University to study music — and later the- ater — after graduating from Central High School on Friday night. fortunately, I grew older and lost some of those good habits, partially because there were no penalties for late homework anymore.” During her four-year ca- reer at Central, Boyack had four different grading sys- tems, which she said was frustrating. “I think it’s kind of silly,” she said. “I think they should figure it out.” In spite of that, she earned high marks, which helped her get a merit scholarship to Willamette University. She has also earned other scholarships, which she said is good be- cause it is an expensive university. There are definitely things Boyack will miss about high school, and she said she will surely keep in touch with fellow thespians and some favorite teachers, but she is looking forward to the next step. Dallas filmmaker ready to graduate, head to LA By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — Alicia Scherer has crammed plenty of ac- complishment in the three and one-half years she’s at- tended Dallas High School. “I always heard that the best part of high school is being as active as you could be, so I did everything I could,” Scherer said Mon- day, just days before she will walk in DHS’ Class of 2016 graduation ceremony. She won filmmaking awards at the State Thespian Festival two years in row. She helped start DHS’ film club, gay-straight alliance, and Stand for the Silent, an an- tibullying effort that success- fully fought to have a Face- book page that was used to take down cyberbully stu- dents. Scherer is a member of National Honor Society and the school’s leadership class for three years. As a senior she served on the superin- tendent’s committee finding ways to provide students with more privacy in locker ro o m s a n d b a t h ro o m s throughout the district. For three years she’s sang in choir, but she really found her voice in filmmaking and theater. She attributes that to a collection of peers, teach- ers and administrators who encouraged and supported her throughout her various endeavors, particularly drama teachers Blair Cromwell and Aaron Faw- cett and DHS Principal Steve Spencer. “I’ll always remember B l a i r C r o m w e l l . S h e’s helped me get to where I am in so many different ways. I have so much to thank her for,” Scherer said. “I’ve already given her a couple of thank you cards, but I feel like I need to give her 10 more.” At the Dallas Thespians “Hammy” awards this year, Fawcett presented her with “Most Inspirational.” “I remember being in- spired by him,” Scherer said. She used her high school experiences in Dallas to build a strong sense of self, something she says she’s going to need where she’s going. Starting this fall, she’s at- tending Relativity School, an arts school in Los Angeles, to JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer Alicia Scherer graduates from Dallas High School on Saturday and heads to Relativity School in Los Angeles to pursue a career behind the camera. pursue a bachelor’s of fine arts degree in film and digital content. Her dream is to find a ca- reer behind the camera. Scherer acknowledges how intimidating her move to Los Angeles from Dallas will be, but also how necessary. “I think if I want to get into the film industry, I need to be where it is,” she said. Scherer said she will need to stay grounded in a life phi- losophy nurtured in Dallas. “The grass is greener where you water it. You have to learn that the grass doesn’t have to be greener on the other side, you just have to take care of your own grass,” she said. “It’s realizing what you have to bring to the table and not forgetting about it.” Spencer said Scherer has shown extraordinary leader- ship for the last three years. He said she was proactive in taking on the cyberbully- ing problem at the school in her sophomore year. “She has been an advo- cate for students with ad- ministrators in resolving is- sues in incidents of cyber- bullying,” he said. He said he isn’t surprised Scherer is pursuing a career in filmmaking. Spencer saw her talent for it early on and wrote a letter of recommen- dation for her application to Relativity School. “I wrote something to the effect of, ‘She will make you look smart for selecting her,’” Spencer said, then added, “She makes good de- cisions and makes the best of the opportunity.” On verge of taking an ex- citing and frightening leap of her own, Scherer said being scared is OK. It’s what you do next that matters. “If you are afraid to jump, then you probably should jump,” she said. Hallock one of 28 to graduate from Perrydale By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer PERRYDALE — Hannah Hallock, Associated Student Body president for two years in a row at Perrydale High School, finds herself grateful and a little nervous as she prepares to graduate on Sat- urday. She will attend Western Oregon University in the fall, studying pre-med, with plans to transfer to Oregon Health & Sciences Universi- ty. Her goal is to become a pediatrician. But going from Perrydale to Western — while smaller than other universities — will be quite a new environ- ment. “Being at this small school, I know everybody,” Hallock said. “Now going to a university, I’m going to have to really branch out and make a lot of new friends, so I’m a little nerv- ous for that part.” She’s excited about her next step, and feels that Per- rydale has helped her with that, from kindergarten through 12th grade. “It’s such a tiny school EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer Hannah Hallock is eager to study pre-med at Western Oregon University in fall, hoping to transfer to Oregon Health & Sciences University to one day be a pediatrician. you really get a lot of one- on-one help from teachers,” Hallock said. “So if you have any questions, it’s really easy to get help.” Only about six seniors from the Class of 2016 have gone through all 13 years of school with Hallock. She said she will miss all of her fellow students. “Going to this small school, you really have a re- ally close relationship with all the students,” she said. “Having only 28 kids in my class, I have a really good bond with each and every one of them. Having memo- ries with all of them is prob- ably the part I’ll miss the most, for sure.” Hallock has been active in leadership and sports throughout her four years at Perrydale High School. She has played volleyball, bas- ketball, softball, and added track to her schedule this year. “I really enjoy being part of a team and getting to lead the group of students I know have the same passion as I,” Hallock said. The leadership students try and get others involved in school activities, Hallock said. “We really try to push for school spirit — showing up to games to support the teams, or helping us fundraise for families during the holiday season,” she said. “We really try to push for student interaction.” Her advice to all students is to get involved in activities outside the classroom, and take your freshman year se- riously. “Many of my friends have realized that they didn’t maybe put their full effort into freshman year, and now they realize it’s affecting them,” Hallock said. “But overall, I would say just enjoy your time, because it goes by so, so fast.” She plans to live on cam- pus at WOU, and to slow things down a bit, wanting to adjust to college life be- fore taking on too many ex- tracurricular activities. Hallock knows life after Perrydale will be “a bit of a challenge,” but feels pre- pared and ready to step away from home — but not too far away. “Western is affordable and it’s close to home, but still far enough away that I can kind of be off on my own,” she said. Hallock credits her confi- dence and readiness to Per- rydale schools. “I’ve been extremely priv- ileged to go to this amazing school where I get to have many relationships with stu- dents, teachers and staff,” she said. “I believe going to Perrydale has had a great in- fluence on who I am today, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s been a great, great year overall.” Congratulations Class of 2016 graduates For photos of Central, Dallas and Perrydale high school, as well as Western Oregon University, see the June 15 Itemizer-Observer. For photo galleries from graduation events, go to www.polkio.com. For graduation times and schedules, see Page 6A.
