County prepares for graduation: Emery High and Green River graduations on May 21 at 7 p.m.

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The school year has wound down to its final week and Emery High and Green River High are preparing for their graduation ceremonies on May 21 at 7 p.m.
The Green River ceremony will have Crosby Hatt and Brennan Bigelow speak as Co-Valedictorians. Marvin Arnold is the class president and he will speak along with vice principal Pat Brady. Honor students include: Brandi Webster, Lindsey Spadafora, Tyson Johnson and Alicia McFarlane.
Emery High Graduation speakers: Co-Valedictorian: Tayler Tanner, son of Mark and Nanette Tanner of Orangeville; Co-Valedictorian: Brett Mecham, son of Doug and Kathy Mecham of Huntington; Salutatorian: Chris Clarke, son of Cole and Rene Clarke of Castle; Dale Honor: Casey Wood, son of Colleen and James Davis of Orangeville; Honor: Kameron Stilson, son of Scott and Heather Stilson of Orangeville; Honor: Justin Cox, son of Courtney and Lorraine Cox of Orangeville; Honor: Cory Collard, son of Chris and Marilyn Collard of Castle Dale. Tayler Tanner is the son of Mark and Nanette Tanner of Orangeville, and the grandson of Delile and Elda Hinkins of Orangeville and Harvey and Afton Tanner of Blackfoot, Idaho. Tayler will graduate as Co-Valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA and an ACT score of 35. He has been named a Thomas S. Monson Presidential Scholar at Brigham Young University and was the Sterling Scholar winner in the General Scholarship category. He plans to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then attend school at BYU.
Brett Mecham is the 18 year old son of Doug and Kathy Mecham of Huntington. He is graduating with a 4.0 GPA, a 35 ACT composite score, and as Co-Valedictorian of his class. This year Brett served on the Emery High Student Council, as a member of National Honor Society, and as the Seminary Council President. He also was Emery High’s Math Sterling Scholar and was the Southeastern Utah Regional Winner at the competition that was held at CEU back in March. In the fall, he had a lead role in the school play, Man Of La Mancha. He played basketball and baseball and was named to the Academic All-State team for both sports. He takes great pride in his service as the official bugler for the American Legion Post 73 in Huntington in which he plays “Taps” at veterans’ funerals and at Memorial Day and Veterans Day programs throughout Emery County. He will be attending Brigham Young University on a full tuition scholarship. After the fall semester, Brett will serve an LDS mission, return home, continue with college, and get married in the temple.
Christian Clarke is the son of Cole and Rene’ Clarke of Castle Dale. Chris has always been self motivated and he sets his goals high. He has been a 4.0 student since the seventh grade. All aspects of flight have fascinated him from a young age and he took his first flight lesson before he could drive. He will finish his private pilots license this summer. He received a Congressional endorsement to the US Naval Academy, but for now has accepted the Honors at Entrance Scholarship from the University of Utah, so he can attend for one semester before serving a mission for the LDS Church. Who knows what he will choose to do after that.
Justin Cox is the 18 year old son of Courtney and Lorraine Cox of Orangeville. He maintained a 4.0 grade average throughout all of high school. He is a member of the newspaper staff for Emery High School and is the Vice President of the National Honor Society. He also participated in several Emery High School plays. Justin’s plans for the future are to attend Utah State University for a year and then go on an LDS Mission. He is planning to major in Computer Engineering. Justin’s favorite academic interests are computers and art. He likes to hang out with friends, make people laugh, play on the computer, and play sports. He also enjoys making movies with his friends.
Casey Wood is the son of James and Colleen Davis and the late Darrell Wood. He has lived in Orangeville all his life and hopes to return to Emery County as an adult. Casey will attend Utah State University in the fall.
This was Principal Larry Davis’ first year as the principal at Emery High he said, “Leaving Canyon View was very hard for me because of the associations and friendships I had with the faculty, staff and students as well as the quality programs that were in place there. I was a little anxious about starting a new role at Emery High, but right from the first day everyone was very kind and helpful and that has continued throughout the school year. Being new to the school, I had to earn the trust of all of the Emery High School stakeholders, and I feel that progress has been made in that area. We have been able to work together as a faculty to adopt academic enhancement, remediation and probation programs, and we are taking a serious look at tweaking our citizenship probation program. The school’s Community Council has been reorganized, meets regularly and has greatly contributed to school improvement. The day-to-day interaction with the students has been amazing and very rewarding. The growth of the Mighty Emery Student Section (MESS) was nothing less than astounding and served to remind me of good old fashioned school spirit. Because of so many reasons, this has been one of my very best years as an administrator. Certainly the year has gone far better than I ever imaged, and I owe that to the good people I work with, the students who believe in the school, their parents and the entire Emery High School family.
“I’m looking forward to the summer break so that I can work on programs for next year, continue to improve the school culture, and get those things in place which will help our students succeed in the future,” said Davis.
Following is a schedule for seniors:
May 18, and, May 20: Semester tests and senior checkout from each class. May 19: Senior Lagoon trip May 20: JR Nelson open house, 5 p.m., auditorium foyer; Senior Awards Night, 6 p.m., auditorium; Senior Talent Night, 7:30 p.m., auditorium; Yearbook Stomp, 8:30 p.m., old gym.
May 21: Senior graduation practice, 8:20 a.m., auditorium; senior line-up, 6:30 p.m., auditorium; Commencement Exercises, 7 p.m., auditorium; Peer Helper Graduation Party, Castle Dale Pool, following graduation ceremonies. May 22: Report cards; minimum day- school dismissed at noon.
The Green River graduation speakers include Brennan Wade Bigelow Co-Valedictorian. He is the 18 year old son of Tonya and Kerry Bigelow; he has one big brother Slade and two sisters, Tawni and Whitney. He is a native of Green River and plans to serve an LDS mission after this school year. After he returns from his mission he plans to attend Southern Utah University. He is undecided at this time on his major.
Crosby Hatt is the Co-Valedictorian along with Bigelow. She is the 18 year old daughter of Royd and Toni Hatt. She has one sister, Megan and two older brothers Parker and Ren along with one sister-in-law AriAnne who is married to Ren. “I have lived in Green River all my life and after high school I plan to go to college at the College of Eastern Utah. I am not sure what I want to do yet, but I want to be good at what I do,” said Hatt.
The other graduation speaker will be Marvin Lee Arnold, class president. He is the 17 year old son of Kathy and Randy Arnold. He has two sisters, Samantha and Nicki, and one brother Rusty. “I enjoy fishing and hunting with my friends. My favorite pastime has always been and will always be paintballing. On Feb. 7 of this year, I enlisted in the delayed entry program of the United States Marine Corps and I leave for boot camp on Aug. 17. I signed my contract of enlistment for eight years in the field of Force Reconnaissance, four active and four reserve. After my first four years of active duty I plan to attend college using my GI Bill and my NROTC Scholarship for which I recently applied,” said Arnold.
The teacher speaking at Green River graduation this year is Vice-Principal Pat Brady. Pat along with his wife Kathy have five sons and four granddaughters and a grandson. They have lived in Colorado, Utah, Alaska, Nevada and Arizona. After high school Brady attended Brigham Young University, and Southern Utah University. At BYU he earned a BS in geology. At SUU he earned his teaching credentials. He has been a teacher for 19 years. He has taught in Alaska, Colorado and Utah in grades that span from K-12. Brady now teachers all the math classes at Green River High. Go Pirates.