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.