Top Of The Class South Side Valedictorians Share Top Academic Honors But Claim Distinctiveness In Their Individual Interests
FOR THE RECORD (June 6, 1997): Gender incorrect: Lewis and Clark High School valedictorian Tamsin Barford was incorrectly identified as a male in Thursday’s South Side Voice graduation edition.
When the weekend rolls around, they can be found tossing Frisbees, skateboarding, or watching old movies.
In that respect, you can’t pin them down.
Despite disparate after-school interests, all 43 South Side valedictorians from private and public schools have one thing in common: They tackled their schoolwork like professional linebackers, earning near-perfect or perfect grade-point averages.
That academic distinction earned them a place on the podium at their graduation ceremonies. They’ll have the opportunity to talk about their lives, the future, or changes they would like to see or make.
The valedictorians also earned scholarships, awards and honors in every area imaginable.
College is the next step for most. But in the academic arena, their interests diverge once again.
Some want to pursue careers in science, medicine, nursing, and others in business, teaching or fine arts.
But their determination and spunk make it seem likely they’ll find success, no matter what their chosen endeavor.
Here is a look at the valedictorians and the memories they leave behind:
Cheney High School
Last fall, Robert Van Allen juggled academics and drumsticks.
The 17-year-old senior’s handiwork kept the band on a roll.
His happiest senior memory is “being the drum major for the marching band last fall,” Van Allen said. “It was a lot of hard work, but it felt good to win our division each time.”
Van Allen has been involved in numerous school activities, including math and science club, associated student body and Kiwanis as a community service volunteer. His parents pushed him to become involved and to “do my best in everything I am involved in,” he said.
When Van Allen wants a break from his drums, he plays piano, trumpet or French horn.
In the fall, he plans to attend Northwest Nazarene College in Idaho.
And though Van Allen says he wants to become a professional musician, he’s still deciding on whether to major in music performance or engineering. For fun, Jill Jarvis reads, writes, paints, travels and tries to make pleasant memories for herself and others.
The Spokane Scholar for English, fine arts, and social studies loves to learn. She also is a National Merit Commended Scholar.
Much of that learning, Jarvis says, comes from talking to people from all walks of life.
She loves books and writing, but Jarvis says people have “touched my life and given me a broader, deeper, more coherent view of life.”
She plays in the jazz band and wind ensemble and is a practicing thespian.
Her desire to continually soak up knowledge has influenced her career goal: to become a college professor and continue her studies.
Jarvis plans to attend Whitman College.
Ferris High School
If Tricia Ashby could be a famous person for an hour, she says she’d like to be Isaac Newton, the 18th-century thinker who invented calculus and postulated on the gravitational glue of the universe.
Such inquisitiveness on Ashby’s part could help carry her into a career as a social worker or family lawyer. She said she plans to attend Brigham Young University this fall.
While in high school, her pursuits included the drill team. She won a math achievement award and the Church Young Women Recognition Award.
For fun, Ashby said she loves to read and dance, and her father is the most inspirational person in her life.
She also plans to get married and raise a family.
Like many young people, Katie Cashatt wants to do something good for the world. Her career goal is to work for a company that is environmentally conscious.
She plans to attend Western Washington University this fall and study environmental science.
As a senior, her interests spanned far more than science. She plays the Celtic harp, piano and violin. She practices yoga.
Cashatt is fun-loving, too. Her best memory of the past school year was the prom, when her date wore a kilt.
One of her goals is to learn Gaelic, the Irish language.
Her activities included Drama Club, Senior Advisory Committee and master of ceremonies for the coronation of the Lilac Festival queen.
When Zachary L. Cazier was younger, he dreamed of being an astronaut. Now that he’s graduating from high school, Cazier said he wants to be a doctor.
He said he’s still trying to narrow down the choice to either working as an anesthesiologist or a medical researcher.
Cazier is going to start his college career at Washington State University, studying biochemistry. Not surprisingly, he was on the Ferris honor roll four years running.
But he’s not just an academic type. He played on the varsity golf team, winning the team Most Valuable Player Award his sophomore year. He said he plans to make golf a competitive pursuit.
Cazier lists his parents as the most inspirational people in his life because they taught him to set goals and follow his dreams.
Tony Cohen may be able to bench-press more than 230 pounds, but he’s no slouch when it comes to mental strength.
This runner-athlete is planning to attend Western Washington University next year and study engineering. His goal, he said, is to become one of the best engineers around.
One of his heroes from history is Henry Ford because Ford successfully marketed the automobile, at the same time treating his employees well, he said.
During his high school years, Cohen participated in track, cross country, the Academic Challenge and National Honor Society. In 1995 he won the Most Improved Award on the track team.
He was born in Bellevue, Wash., and last year, moved to Spokane from Wenatchee.
Joshua Dyck is one of those students who excels in a wide range of pursuits.
He directed a one-act play, “Answers,” written by Tom Topor, yet wants to study business for his career.
Dyck was a senior class vice president and a member of the Drama Club and tennis team. He earned high scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
But his spare time is taken up with socializing, playing tennis or watching television. He said his goals are simple: living day to day.
Dyck credits his parents with instilling him with the values that have helped him think for himself.
He plans to attend the University of Puget Sound this fall.
Bruce Fatz doesn’t have any problem picking out his favorite memory from high school.
He was one of 250 marching band members who performed at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., last Jan. 1. Fatz plays the trombone in the marching band and keyboards in the jazz band.
This fall, Fatz plans to enroll at Washington State University in chemistry or biology. He hasn’t defined his career goals yet, but he knows college is the route to success.
Fatz won second place in the Spokane Scholars Award competition for mathematics, won six medals in the Science Olympiad competitions in 1996 and 1997 and had a high score in the math portion of his Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Pat Hull was born in Denver and plans to go to Western Washington University and major in premed.
He played on the school soccer team and described winning games as his most memorable high school experience.
He also enjoys skiing and camping.
Beth Klewero keeps herself plenty busy.
She belongs to the National Honor Society and was part of the school orchestra, Science Olympiad and Junior Advisory Group.
In her spare time she likes to read, jog, socialize with friends, watch movies, swim and bike.
During high school, she was named to the student Who’s Who. She attended Evergreen Girls State and won the Outstanding Junior Achievement Award from the Masonic Lodge.
Klewero wants to be a doctor or medical researcher. She plans to enter Western Washington University this fall in premed.
Her parents are the most inspirational people in her life, she said, because they have taught her the benefits of hard work and being responsible.
Her biggest secret: She loves reading Ann Landers.
Brianna Lehman is a top student with perfect grades, but she dreams of being a tennis great.
A member of the varsity tennis team, Lehman said she wonders what it would be like to be a professional like Steffi Graf and win big matches.
She won the award for most improved tennis player last year and played on the varsity team for three years.
Besides liking tennis, she lists reading, crossstitching and socializing with friends as her favorite pastimes.
Lehman plans to attend Gonzaga University this fall and major in science.
The most inspirational person in her life is her grandmother, who showed strength after her grandfather died in the past year.
Marla Meekhof’s dream of the future is not at all unlike that of many other people her age.
She wants to pursue a career and eventually raise a family.
Meekhof said she plans to attend Whitworth College this fall and continue her music studies there. At Ferris, she performed in the marching band, wind ensemble, jazz band and full orchestra.
One of her best high school memories was performing in the Rose Bowl Parade last January in Pasadena, Calif.
She is a Washington Scholar, Spokane English Scholar of the Year, Spokane Exchange Club Student of the Year and a National Merit Commended Scholar. She has won Science Olympiad medals and awards for academic excellence.
Emily Jeanne Ohman may be a top scholar at Ferris, but she values her friends from high school probably more than anything.
She said her favorite memory is going to the prom and having a good time with about two or three dozen friends. She said her best friend, Jenny Buss, has been an inspiration because of her loyalty and loving heart.
Ohman plans to attend the University of Portland this fall and study engineering.
At Ferris, she was a cheerleader, tennis player and member of the National Honor Society. She won several science achievement awards.
But she also has talent in the arts. She was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Dance.
She said she hopes to work someday for a large company that will allow her the chance to work around the world. She also believes raising a family is important.
If Ashley Pratt could be a famous person for an hour, she would choose to be Louis Armstrong.
“His voice is so cool,” she said of the late jazz musician.
But her musical tastes also run to old Whitney Houston songs, she said.
Pratt loves the arts, and her high school career was built around performing. She was on the drill team, a member of Canterbury Belles and symphonic choir. She performed in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif.
She plans to attend Western Washington University this fall and study music and education.
Her long-range goals are to be a teacher and have a family.
Danielle Pulham has one goal: She wants to be a lifelong learner.
Her record at Ferris suggests she’s already doing that.
She played piano and oboe and was a member of the marching band and full orchestra.
She is also the winner of a Curriculum Achievement Award for her studies and a superior rating for her musical talents.
Pulham said she’s going to strive for her goals and not settle for second-best. She said her mother taught her that.
Pulham plans to study psychology and hopes to become a psychiatrist some day.
During the past year, she said the memory of the ice storm showed her the positive side of a community pulling together in an emergency.
When Darcy Ruemping looks back on her senior year, she remembers the physical and mental challenge of competing in the state volleyball tournament as the high point of her athletic career.
The varsity volleyball and tennis player hasn’t settled on a career choice. She plans to attend the University of Washington this fall but isn’t sure whether she wants to become a dentist or a teacher.
She said she’s still taking life one day at a time rather than thinking 20 years into the future.
Katie Watts said the best part of her high school career was the time she spent working as a page for U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt. It sparked her interest in the way government works, she said.
Now she’s planning to attend Stanford University this fall and study either premed or foreign relations.
She was a member of the varsity tennis team, National Honor Society and Science Olympiad.
Her favorite memory as a senior was the five days she and her friends spent in Seattle during the state basketball tournament.
Jason Weatherred looks back on his career at Ferris with the strong memory of competing in the state basketball championship and winning third place.
Weatherred not only played basketball but was also on the tennis and cross country teams. He was a member of a Bible study group and served as senior class secretary.
He also plays guitar and piano.
Among his achievements, he won the Yale Book Award and an All-American Award as a vocational student and was named an All-American basketball player. He also won the Greater Spokane League Scholar-Athlete Award.
He plans to attend California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo this fall and study architecture.
Freeman High School
For Joanna Ramsey, softball means great weather and a true love of the game. It was her softball coach, Scott Carolan, who inspired her to succeed in the classroom, she said.
Ramsey is serving her second year as president of Freeman’s National Honor Society and was elected to the student council throughout her four years in high school. She hopes to attend Pacific University, a small liberal arts college in Oregon.
Jennifer Burton will work this summer as well as fulfill her duties as Spokane Interstate Fair queen.
Burton said it has taken time for her to “come out of my shell.”
She attributes her personal growth to Freeman Principal Dennis Schuerman, who doubles as her leadership teacher.
She will major in biology at the University of Idaho.
A percussionist, Burton says she will continue her musical interests.
Aaron Hill will attend Gonzaga University next fall, but he already has accepted a position working with GU’s basketball team.
Hill, who was active in basketball, baseball and cross country, hopes to pursue a career as a coach.
Being selected for the All-Northwest basketball team meant a lot to Hill, who explained, “Athletics has always been a love of mine, but I never enjoyed great individual success as an athlete. I worked hard to better my playing ability.”
Gonzaga Prep
Steve Schreiner, in spite of his 4.0 grade-point average and near-perfect verbal score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, doesn’t take things too seriously.
He’s done the macarena atop a desk in calculus class, stopped for a banana split during Bloomsday (he finished, he says, in just over three hours), and lists drinking Pepsi among his hobbies.
“I’d be fun to be Tiger Woods so that I could finally hit a golf ball over 39 yards,” he says.
He plans to attend Stanford University next year, maybe study medicine, and probably keep playing the guitar.
But his real goals? Practice medicine in Africa, learn to sail, swim the English Channel, climb Mount Rainier and, of course, “conquer my fear of giraffes.”
Bound for a career in accounting, Jessica Coalson says rigorous study in mathematics and science has been the most inspirational part of her senior year.
“This activity helped me to realize what I wanted to do when I got older,” said Coalson.
She was involved with gymnastics, cheerleading and cross country at Gonzaga Prep. She won the Girl Scout Gold Award from Troop 530 as a result of a community service project.
She plans to attend the University of Washington, major in accounting and eventually get into international business.
She also hopes to raise a family “with academic values.”
Call him Mr. Prep. Richard Conley, 17, is no wallflower. To help raise money for Gonzaga he entered the Mr. Prep contest, gave two speeches and a martial arts demonstration, built a sculpture and modeled pajamas.
For fun, Conley studies martial arts, plays golf and goes trapshooting.
Conley, a recipient of a Marine Corps Scholastic Excellence Award, is listed in Who’s Who Among American High School Students.
Conley, who plans to study premed at Seattle University, says the most inspirational person in his life “has been my grandfather. He has had a very hard life, not much schooling, and he still started a very successful business.”
Happiness and courtside seats at New York Knicks basketball games are the two things Joe Jordan says he wants out of life.
The 18-year-old senior is looking forward to attending Seattle University next year but doesn’t know what his major will be. In the past year, however, the science and history clubs and the math team kept him busy, as well as his stint as president of the associated student body.
Jordan golfs, plays basketball, listens to music and hangs out with his friends while maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average.
He says some of his senior year has been characterized by senior slump and a minor case of panic, brought on by having to choose a college, fill out applications and wait for acceptance.
But Jordan is optimistic: “Other people have achieved before me, so they give me hope.”
For an hour, Alexi Velis would like to be Katarina Witt.
Velis, 18, a dancer and cheerleader at Gonzaga Prep, admires Witt for her ability to “express her emotions so beautifully through ice skating.”
Being a cheerleader this year was a great experience for Velis, who plans to attend Santa Clara University in California.
“I got to spend time with friends, be a leader, and do something I love at the same time,” she says.
She also enjoys going to musicals, doing aerobics, reading and “hanging out with friends.”
Velis’ goal in life, besides becoming a dermatologist, is to find happiness with herself, family and friends.
Lewis and Clark High School
Role model for Jefferson Elementary School sixth-graders, Lewis and Clark High School senior class president and varsity soccer player Anna Adolphson, 18, would like to spend one hour as Mother Teresa to see what it’s like to commit completely to service.
But if Adolphson’s experiences are any indicator of her devotion to service in this community and others, she has already experienced that hour of complete commitment.
This year and last, she went to Tijuana, Mexico, with a group of students and helped build homes for needy families.
Adolphson has also been a volunteer at the Southcrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and a tutor at Bemiss Elementary School.
She plans to attend Santa Clara University in California.
And though she says her major is undeclared, her career goal is to work with people.
Attending SCU will involve sacrifice, however. Adolphson is an avid downhill skier, and Santa Clara is better known for its pomegranates than its powder.
Tamsin Barford, 18, will head west this fall to attend the University of Washington. He plans to study international business and major in accounting.
With his accounting degree he hopes to distinguish himself in the corridors of the corporate world, a pencil tucked behind his ear, a computer at his desk.
At LC, Barford played tennis, belonged to the French club and was a member of the National Honor Society with his 4.0 grade-point average.
For fun, Barford likes to travel, ski, read and swim.
Danielle Davey’s biggest secret?
“I used to play the tuba.” Now she plays piano but longs to play guitar like Neil Young, “so I could rock out.”
Davey’s school activities included basketball and softball.
Beginning this fall, Davey will attend Dartmouth College, though she doesn’t know what she wants to study. Her career goal, however, is to write novels.
Long walks, reading and playing the piano occupy Erin Dressel’s time outside school.
In school, Dressel’s life is distinguished by academic achievement in the fine arts.
This year, the 18-year-old senior won a Gold Award at the Allied Music and Arts Festival.
She sings in the All-State and All-Northwest Choir, has been a speaker at Pi Lambda Theta, and is a member of the National Honor Society Team.
At LC she also played softball and ran competitively.
Her goal in life is to become a wife and mother. Her career goal: to be a pharmacist.
Dressel will attend Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma this fall.
Lisa-Ann Hamilton plans to attend the Master’s College in Santa Clarita, Calif., and study biblical counseling.
The 18-year-old senior maintained a 4.0 grade-point average and was a member of Key Club, Spanish Club, math team and the National Honor Society.
Jenny Johnson is trying to decide between studying physics or astronomy at the University of Washington this fall.
The LC senior also has another decision in the offing: whether to teach high school or college.
But her college experience may resolve both dilemmas: her field of study and her vocation.
She does know what she likes to do for fun, however: play the piano.
Johnson, 18, is a Washington Scholar, Phi Delta Kappa scholarship recipient and a member of the National Honor Society.
At LC, she was a member of jazz choir and the math team.
Maybe an engineer, maybe a physicist - Beth Pierce isn’t sure what vocation she’ll choose.
However, Pierce, 18, does know she’ll attend the University of Washington this fall.
At Lewis and Clark, Pierce was a member of the math team and orchestra.
Her academic achievements include a 4.0 grade-point average and being named a Washington Scholar in math and a Spokane Scholar in math.
In her spare time Pierce reads, listens to music and swims.
If Katherine Marie Sluder had her way, she would be walking on the moon.
The 18-year-old senior said she wishes she could view the earth from the same vantage point as Neil Armstrong: “It would put everything in our daily lives in perspective,” she said.
Two years ago, Sluder saw the world from inside Sacred Heart Medical Center as a volunteer.
The perspective changed her life.
“Helping the sick and being there for those in need was truly rewarding,” she said.
The experience shaped her decision to attend Montana State University and major in nursing.
Sluder credits her teachers, counselors and the office staff at LC for their help in preparing her for college and assisting in the application process.
President of the French Club and a member of National Honor Society and Key Club, Sluder still found time to indulge her passion for hiking, camping, reading and watching old movies.
Sluder’s goal is to become a licensed nurse practitioner and open her own clinic in rural Montana.
Before Nadav Tanners begins his college career at Swarthmore College, he plans to spend one year in Israel.
The 17-year-old math team president, Honor Society officer and Philosophy Club member has garnered an impressive list of achievements beside his name: Presidential Scholar, Spokane Scholar in social science, Bausch and Lomb Science Award, and the Yale Book Award.
Still Tanners manages, in his spare time, to make the moves - as an avid chess, Frisbee and racquetball player.
Liberty High School
Andy Cooper, 18, wouldn’t mind being in Tiger Woods’ golf cleats about now.
“At 21 he’s already won a major and made a fortune,” Cooper said. “And I wouldn’t mind hitting a few 350-yard drives.”
Barring a tennis career, the Liberty student, who plays basketball and runs track, plans to attend Gonzaga University and pursue a career in medicine.
Cooper’s inspiration throughout his school years has been his parents.
“They taught me to finish what I start and do the best I can,” he says.
Medical Lake High School
Angela Lott derives her inspiration from successful, professional women.
And one of those women is Oprah Winfrey - “a strong, smart and caring woman that enjoys her life and uses her money to help others.”
A National Merit Finalist and Washington Scholar, Lott, 18, hopes one day to do the same for humanity - help others.
But being well-rounded is also one of Lott’s concerns. For that reason she finds the time to hike, watch movies and be a part of her school’s drama team.
Her senior year she took up a new sport - snowboarding - and exalted in the feeling of “the cold wind on my face and the snow beneath me.”
This fall she will head off to Whitworth College and plans on becoming either a teacher or a mechanical engineer. As for extracurricular aspirations, she hopes one day to receive her pilot’s license and soar beyond the snow into the sky.
Northwest Christian High School
Jason Miller’s religious convictions are the most important part of his life.
“Life is secure with God. Even when time is against me, I know God is with me,” said Miller.
Involved with baseball and student leadership at Northwest Christian, Miller plans to attend Washington State University and study in the honors program.
His goals are straightforward: Love God, like his hero, Solomon.
“He was the wisest man to ever live,” Miller says. “I could get so much done, make good decisions that would affect the rest of my life.”
St. George’s School
Spring floods took Paul Biggs out of the classroom and put him on a sandbagging line to hold back the swollen Little Spokane River. The campus was partially flooded, but it provided him a memorable experience.
Other activities out of the classroom, a bit less dramatic, also made an impression on Biggs, who has a 3.96 grade-point average from the rigorous school. Youth leadership organizations such as the Teen Advisory Council “proved to me what exceptional results can be obtained by an open mind and hard work - even by teens.
“They have also helped me go out into the community and meet more people with more interesting ideas than I thought possible,” said Biggs.
A varsity baseball player, Biggs is interested in the success of another diamond star: Ken Griffey Jr. “He’s an amazing athlete, yet he’s modest,” Biggs says. “He’s a great role model, but how does he deal with it all?”
Biggs plans to return to the East Coast - he was born in Tar Heel Country, North Carolina - for college at Dartmouth. He’s considering studying politics so he can remain involved with local government, or perhaps medicine.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 17 Photos
The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Jonathan Martin and Janice Podsada Staff writers Staff writer Mike Prager and correspondent Danielle Galvano contributed to this report.