Jun. 3, 2007

Tom is the class valedictorian!

Here's the article from the Sheridan Press: District 1 marks graduation of the class of 2007 Tongue River valedictorian: 'create our own destinies' By Sean Thompson Staff Reporter Forty students clad in green, gray and black gowns ascended the stage Sunday on the Tongue River High School football field before receiving their diplomas as the class of 2007. The graduation ceremonies in Dayton took place under clear skies, with the Big Horn Mountains providing a scenic backdrop for family and friends in attendance. In addressing his fellow students, Valedictorian Tom Pearce said the future was just as frightening as it had been when he was a freshman struggling to make it through his first year at a bigger school. "To get this far, we've had to toss aside our idea of fate and create our own destinies," said Pearce, who will study computer science and electrical engineering in the fall at the University of Wyoming. He added: "That's not going to end here. Our lives have only just begun." .............. I am skipping the rest of the newspaper article, since it didn't mention Tom again, but it does include a photo of him with these words beneath it: Tom Pearce 2007 Class Valedictorian ******** That was the article in the paper. Of course, we're all really proud of him. He is one of those students who never had to be urged to get his schoolwork finished. In fact, he would do his research papers in advance of the deadline and didn't have to stay up until the wee hours to finish in time. This is unlike me. In school, and even now, I would always put things off until the last minute. Tom was this way when I home schooled him, which was kindergarten through third grade while we lived west of the Big Horn Mountains, near Basin, WY. When we moved to Manderson, he started attending public school. When we moved to the east side of the mountains in 2000, he had finished fifth grade. He then attended a small school called Arvada/Clearmont Elementary, for sixth grade. He did really well in public school, but felt it was difficult to move to a larger high school in the middle of his freshman year, when we moved to a ranch near Dayton, where we rent a house. No, we aren't ranchers. My mom grew up on a ranch, but I never lived on one, unless you think of the eleven years from 1987 through 1998 as living on a ranch. Those years were spent living in a large house beside the Big Horn River, where all our home schooling was done. The owner of the house and property where we house-sat, had cattle, but I didn't consider it a working ranch, just a place that the owner kept his cattle! The owner was overseas most of the time. I'll write about my mom's homestead cabin some day.

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