Voices

Taralee Scott didn't think she would ever graduate from high school. That is, until she began attending Mountain View Alternative High School in Rathdrum and discovered it was the perfect school for her. She credits smaller classes, caring teachers and the time teachers are able to spend with each student for the fact she was able to join former classmates from Lakeland High as they walked across the stage and threw their caps into the air on Thursday . The daughter of Tami and Mike Scott, she was an active participant in activities and events this past year. Principal John Klingaman praised Scott for her participation in drama districts, the reverse job fair and an economic summit. He said she completed a senior project "and did very well in district competition," despite the fact the project was not yet mandatory at her school.

Matthew Horner had hit rock bottom. At 16, the Coeur d'Alene native had dropped out of Lake City High School and was homeless. He'd made some bad choices and ran afoul of the law. He knew he had to make a change. The change started by moving in with a longtime family friend and enrolling with Project CDA, an alternative high school that transforms struggling middle and high school students into successful graduates.

The world was different when Nancy Gilson first began teaching. When she started teaching elementary school students in Sunnyside in 1973, the news focused on President Richard Nixon's secret tape recordings of Oval Office conversations. Tony Orlando and Dawn were on the radio singing about yellow ribbons and oak trees, "The Exorcist" was scaring people witless in theaters and "The Young and the Restless" made its daytime television debut.

High school hallways can be a tough place to figure out one's direction in life, let alone any sense of personal identity. A petri dish-worthy social experiment in combining teenage traumas, romances, friendships and scholastic aptitude, sometimes leaders emerge from the shadows with career goals in sight. Such is the case with Kootenai High School graduate Kyle Grubham.

Class of 2008 Expected to graduate are:

Class of 2008 Expected to graduate are:

Class of 2008 Expected to graduate were:

As a kid, Mark Altman could spend hours staring into the constellation-crowded night sky. That's because as an adult, that's where he imagined he'd be working. Now on the cusp of adulthood and high school graduation, Altman is set to begin the first leg in a journey he set for himself years ago to traverse space. With those NASA-inspired dreams, the 17-year-old graduate has crammed as many memorable family moments and higher education opportunities as possible into his Coeur d'Alene High School career, with more on the way as he'll be attending Florida's Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which happens to be within earshot of the thunderous rocket launches from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

Like many of his classmates at the time, Casey Dragon split his first few high school years between sports, schoolwork and carefree interludes with friends. Midway through his junior year, however, an 8-pound, 3-ounce addition changed everything. In January 2007, Dragon and girlfriend Lindsey Franks, both Post Falls High School seniors graduating this month, welcomed their baby daughter, Riley. For the 6-foot star athlete, a varsity quarterback and baseball pitcher, with the newborn came a whole new outlook on life – and a renewed focus on his post-high school plans.

Lucy Koth is an eighth-grader at St. Mary's Catholic School where she was given an assignment in English class. She worked hard on it for a couple of weeks and her hard work paid off when, during the school's end of the year awards assembly, she was presented with a first-place award for her Veterans of Foreign War essay titled "Why I am an American Patriot." Though Koth is only 14, she has a firm concept on what it means to be an American patriot. She explains in her essay how she chooses a positive lifestyle that includes involvement in school, church and community, concluding that, "being an American Patriot is helping others and becoming a better person. I have done this by being involved in my school, my church and my community. In the future I will continue to become a better American Patriot by serving my country in many ways."