Born deaf, Harley Smith gave a heartfelt farewell to her peers, interpreters, teachers, family and friends who have challenged her, encouraged and supported her throughout the years.
Special to The R-C
On Friday, around 300 high school seniors graduated in ceremonies across Douglas County, more than a quarter of them earning honors along the way.
In addition to National Merit Scholar Kevin O’Connell, who is getting a free ride to the University of Nevada, Reno, there were 47 students with a better than 4.0 grade point average, 37 with a 4.9-4.99 grade point average and four students who achieved 5.0 or better.
Of Friday’s Douglas High School graduates, 11 also graduated with an associates degree from Western Nevada College last month.
We’ve been letting the students have the run of the paper over the last couple of issues, because it is their time to shine.
Last week we devoted the entire opinion section to letters from a handful of Scarselli Elementary School fifth-graders writing about keeping Carson Valley clean.
The students mostly dealt with recycling and there are lots of suggestions for more trash receptacles.
But here’s the thing. They are 10-11 years old. They have the better part of their entire lives ahead of them. Whatever we do in this election, in our community and in our schools will affect their time on this planet long after the adults making the decisions are gone.
Whatever we do in our time here, the young people whose thoughts and names appeared in The Record-Courier over the last few weeks are the ones who actually matter.
Some of them are going to go on with their education to achieve great things. Some will stay here and go to work serving our community in a variety of ways, which is even better.
We offer our congratulations to all the students who’ve graduated from Douglas County’s public schools. We’re proud to have supported you, and excited to see what you do next.
