Girls versus world

It turns out Douglas High School's top two seniors are best friends and will walk together at today's graduation.

Eighteen-year-old Julia Miller, class valedictorian, and 17-year-old Nicole Duster, salutatorian, have been best buds since their sophomore year.

"We work off each other," Duster said last week. "We work together. Both of us are pretty determined people."

"It's rewarding to be acknowledged for the work we've done," Miller said.

With honors classes taken into account, Miller's cumulative grade point average rings in at 4.56. Duster's is slightly less at 4.53.

Don't let their GPAs intimidate you. The brilliant, friendly, down-to-earth students are also athletes.

Miller played basketball until her junior year, and Duster ran track and was a member of the state-winning girls' soccer team.

Sitting in the high school counselor's office on May 27, the two students laughed while discussing their nearly identical class schedules, while listing their favorite teachers (Barbara Doherty, Patti Fitzpatrick, Debbie Barnes, Milko Vasquez). And both students showed pause, a reflective sadness, when the conversation turned to how much they're going to miss each other.

"I'm going to miss my family, and Julia of course," Duster said.

This fall, she will attend the University of Washington in rainy Seattle. Miller will be heading south to Pomona College in sunny Claremont, Calif.

Recipients of the full-ride Raymond H. Berner Scholarship, the two students, not surprisingly, share similar interests.

Miller wants to study molecular biology and go into genetic research, more specifically epigenetics, which focuses on gene expression.

"It's the new frontier of science," she said.

Duster is going to study biochemistry and keep an eye on medical school.

"I'm not sure what I want to do," she said, "but I'll see what I like best when I get there, and hopefully I'll be able to do some undergraduate research."

Both young women are aware of the troubled world they're inheriting.

"We're painted as victims of circumstance," Miller said. "We face environmental problems, economic and social policy issues."

Nonetheless, Miller is confident her generation will rise to the occasion.

"Our generation has unique characteristics to solve problems," she said. "We shouldn't be afraid. We have the resources to do so. Social networking is booming right now. There's a global network, and we have the ability to reach across the world, to communicate and solve things. Internet technology allows us to connect in entirely new ways."

Duster said she'd advise her younger peers to appreciate the value of a good education.

"Take advantage of all the opportunities you get," she said. "If you don't challenge yourself, you don't improve."

Miller has an older sister in California, but Duster, the first of her family to leave the nest, is going to Seattle by herself.

"My parents and friends have always been there," she said, "but now I have to make choices on my own. My mom is really nervous, and she's worried I'm going so far away. I'm her little girl."

"In the personal sense, I have to create the right opportunities for myself," Miller added, "to get where I want to be in 10 years."

One thing is clear, though, between the friends.

"Julia is the one person I know I'll be in touch with in my adult life," Duster said.