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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2020)
MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, June 3, 2020 B9 Prairie City Class Motto: “Four years we’ll never forget, even if we did things we regret.” Valedictorian Speech - Shaelynn Bice Good evening and thank you for coming or tuning friends and family of Prairie City. I would like to express my appreciation to all my teachers and family members who helped me get to where I am now, standing in front of all of you. I would also like to personally thank my mom and dad, as they have been my inspiration of work ethic, strength, love, compassion, and the glue that holds my family together. I feel I don’t give them enough recognition for all of the support that they have offered and given. I would like to start this off, to set the mood and Shaelynn Bice reflect on how my education career was so successful. Valedictorian “Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses” -Kobe Bryant. I didn’t get to the place I am today, without a lot of hard work. As many of you may think, your grades in high school is when you need to start caring. However for me, the hard work began when I was only in 7th grade. Being the new student at the beginning of seventh grade here in Prairie City, I was completely out of my comfort zone. I viewed the challenge of moving to a new town as a fresh beginning, and I was going to make the most of it. It was from here on out that I dedicated all of my time to school and the activities that were offered. It was summer before my Freshman year, I took my first online college class, from Eastern Oregon University. High school for me in a nutshell, was school, work, cheer, FFA, and well more school. Anyone who knows me would see this constantly, as I study every chance that I could get. Unlike most, this was my hobby, and I was truly addicted to pushing my schedule to the max, to make sure I was getting every second worth of high school. Although it seems extremely stressful, hard work allows you to wear whatever hat you would like. Due to my hard work and dedication, I am proudly able to show that anything is truly possible if you put your mind into it. Student body president, Varsity Cheer Captain, a FFA District Officer, being a student representative for our school district’s strategic plan, Valedictorian, and lastly, I am able to say that I have completed two years of my college degree. I would like to show my appreciation to my coaches, mentors, teachers, friends, and family, who pushed and knew that I had it in me. Now, as many of you may be thinking, how do you have time to function or even sleep with such a busy schedule? I simply answer that, well you don’t, but a job at a coffee shop tends to get the job done! In all seriousness, there are a few key words that I want you all to take from this speech. Work ethic, organization, leadership, patience, fearlessness, perseverance, and strength. Each and every one of us here today, has the capability to surprise ourselves with what we can accomplish, with these 7 simple words. Sometimes stepping outside of your comfort zone is the key that we need to unlock our inner motivation to do great things. So, here’s to us, for one of the last times, we the class of 2020 started at the bottom, and we may still be at the bottom. I suppose we can only go up from here. May our hats fly as high as our dreams! Thank you. Jo Ashley - Salutatorian Speech On behalf of the graduating class of 2020 I’d like to start off by thanking the Prairie City School staff, our families, and our friends for making this graduation possible. I think its safe to say that this year’s graduation has been anti-climatic and a little depressing for my class and I. We went from complaining about having to attend school and the next we were wishing we were back, something we never thought would come out of our mouths. When I answered the phone call that told me I JoLynne Ashley was salutatorian and I would have to say a speech I Salutatorian suddenly regretted all the A’s and B’s I worked hard for in my classes. I didn’t know what to write or what I had to write, I doubted my abilities to write a simple speech. This was either going to be a loss of words or something that would really set the bar high for our graduation, but either way my ultimate goal is to say thank you and welcome everyone without forgetting how to speak English in my entanglement of nervousness. While on my search to find inspiration for my speech I stumbled upon a quote by Nishan Panwar who said, “Sometimes it’s not about the journey or the destination but about the people, you meet along the way”. My class and I have grown up together, we’ve watched each other struggle and we’ve watched each other thrive. Together we have made it through all phases of school, from our childhood stages of coloring out of the lines to our sweaty and awkward middle school stages, and finally to the Redbull and copy & paste stages of high school. Although we haven’t all gotten along all the time I am still thankful I have had the chance to grow and graduate with all of you today. I wanted this speech to be for my class, a way to tell them that I am proud of every single one of you and not just me but everyone here today and everyone watching from wherever they are. This community has been nothing but supportive and encouraging to us, always willing to lend a helping hand and aid us in our journey. As I bring this speech to a closing I want to send a big thanks to all of Grant County, the family and friends even further out than that, who have made this possible and wish you all good luck wherever the road takes you, now without further ado I welcome Mr. Colson to award the scholarships. Austin Catron Christopher Deiter (Cole) Rilee Emmel Emily Ennis Jonathan Haskins Jr. Aleah Johns Connor Jones Johna Michel Long Kaden Madden Shaine Madden Jacob McClung Opie McDaniel Jake McHatton Carson McKay Lucas McKinley Hailee Wall Madalyn Way Abby Winegar William R. Young Memorial Scholarship - Shaelynn Bice Juniper Arts Council Scholarship - Jolynne Ashley Talents and Treasures Art Appreciation Scholarship - Jolynne Ashley Cecil and Kathleen Jackson Memorial Scholarship - Johna Long Oregon Trail Electric Co-op Scholarship - Shaelynn Bice Bill Jackson FFA Alumni Memorial Scholarship - Rilee Emmel, Shaelynn Bice Timbers Association Scholarship - Shaelynn Bice American Legion Award - Carson McKay, Rilee Emmel Blue Mountain Hospital District 2020 Scholarship - Aleah Johns, Rilee Emmel M. Gregg Smith Scholarship - Maddy Way, Johna Long, Shaine Madden, Jolynne Ashley, Rilee Emmel, Carson McKay, Cole Deiter Tanni Wenger Photography Senior Team Community Service Scholarship - Maddy Way Paul and Clara Beth Doe Scholarship - Shaelynn Bice Rosa Ricco Buttedahl Scholarship - Maddy Way, Shaine Madden, Johna Long, Rilee Emmel, Jolynne Ashley, Cole Deiter, Opie McDaniel, Carson McKay, Hailee Wall Prairie City Teacher’s Association Memorial Scholarship - Shaelynn Bice In total as of Today (PC Graduation) the total sum of scholarship amounts for our students is over $72,000! S191582-1
