Besides presenting the 250 Springville High School graduates with their diplomas Thursday night, Nebo School Board member Bonnie J. Palmer gave each graduate a scholarship. But the scholarships are not the kind that can be redeemed at a college of the students' choice.
The scholarships Palmer presented have already been used. They were simply a blue 4-by-6-inch card reminding each student of the education that was provided them by the citizens of Nebo School District.Palmer said the cost of each student's education from the time they entered kindergarten to the time they graduate is about $25,000. "And you are worth every cent of this award," Palmer said.
Senior Class President Peter Smith welcomed the graduating class by reminding them of their many accomplishments, both in academics and in extracurricular activities.
Jackie Perry said like all graduating classes, the class of 1990 is made up of individuals with different hopes, dreams and futures. Some will end up as doctors, some lawyers and some auto mechanics.
"Let us not be afraid to follow our dreams, however difficult or different they are. If we hear the call of the bugle or the strum of the harp, let us follow that which we hear," she said.
Kristen Cloward compared the progress through school to the composition of music. "Now that our score is written and our scales finally learned, we will continue to grow and achieve with the backgrounds we have made for ourselves. We can now take the knowledge of our high school careers and clarify, concentrate, simplify and mold our futures into the beautiful, sometimes sad, and joyful symphonies of life."
Kristine Rowley compared education to boiling water. Each student entered kindergarten as cold water and got warmer each year. As graduates, they are now close to the boiling point.
"What we choose to do now, whether we heat one more degree and create steam or turn down the heat and just simmer, is up to us," Rowley said.
Jill Hullinger said, "We have more freedom than ever to march to our own drum, to hear our own music and to fulfill our own dreams and goals."