Graduates, have a 'wonderful wonderful'
ELIZABETH GUINN RHS Salutatorian

ELIZABETH GUINN

Good evening family, friends, teachers, administrators, and graduates. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Graduation is finally here. I have been looking forward to this day, as I am sure you all have. One thing I was not looking forward to was writing this speech. I am not a writer, to which all of my English teachers can attest. I found myself drawing pictures and ripping out blank pages from a spiral. I will say that my speech was a lot easier to write after I turned off the TV. I started thinking of all the memories I'd had at Rusk High School, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The majority of the memories I take with me are good.

Many things have changed since we started school. Gas was much cheaper, and there was no American Idol. Our wheels were trikes and bikes instead of cars and trucks. But I think that for the most part, our class has stayed the same stubborn fun-loving bunch that we were when we started.

After tonight we will no longer be unified under the '07 bond. We will all go our separate ways. Some will go to college, others straight to work, while others will join the military. I wish everyone luck in whatever you have chosen.

Our past years at Rusk High School have helped shape who we are. Who knows when knowing the Lord's Prayer in Anglo-Saxon will come in handy.

As freshmen, we were first introduced to the evilness of Dickens, the plots of Shakespeare and our first taste of the legendary Mrs. Turney. We made it through though, pretty much unscathed.

Sophomore year was a bit rougher. From A Tale of Two Cities to Algebra II and Chemistry. I think I can say for most of us sophomore year couldn't end soon enough.

Junior year was our first year to have Mr. Scallon as an English teacher. I was amazed that one man could have music for all occasions: from test taking music to reading assignment music to Native American Day Party music.

Senior year, the year we had all been looking forward to. Once again we had Mr. Scallon and Mrs. Turney, who kept us working until the last day of school.

I would like to thank Mr. Scallon for keeping us modest, Mrs. Turney for teaching us to dissect not destroy, Mrs. Nimitz for letting us play Jeopardy, Mr. Scallon for always having music to do anything by, Mrs. Crysup for telling us the capital of Switzerland and all that math stuff, the technology department for blocking almost everything on the internet, Mr. Scallon for never-lying, Mr. Ward for not always having the floor, and Mr. Scallon for giving us things compliments of the local English department.

During my Spanish II class Mrs. Fernandez would always tell us to have a "wonderful, wonderful." This would always leave us puzzled, but tonight, it is the perfect closing.

You can write in what you want, career, be it college or professional, haircut or marriage. So I say to you have a wonderful, wonderful.