MiddletownJournal.com

FAIRFIELD TWP. — As the choir sang "It's so hard to say goodbye," the Preble Shawnee Class of 2008 did just that.

"You are looking at a class of dreamers," Valedictorian Matthew Messer said Friday night, May 23, at the Preble Shawnee commencement ceremony at Princeton Pike Church of God.

Among Preble Shawnee's newest alumni there are students poised on the path to become engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and athletic trainers, Matthew said.

Matthew and his brother, Willard, were this year's valedictorian and salutatorian respectively and earned a total of more than $10,000 in scholarships. Superintendent Dale Robertson said the Class of 2008 accepted more than $86,000 in college scholarships.

Willard bestowed the advice he had grown up with on his fellow graduates.

"Don't let yourself be unhappy in your life," he said. "Give yourself some amazing reasons to get up in the morning."

Since the Class of 2008 first met when West Elkton and Camden elementary schools merged in the sixth grade, they have developed a bond, said class speaker Lawton Lovely.

"We are a family of colleagues, athletes, scholars," he said. "And most of all we are a family of friends."

During their academic careers, this year's seniors have faced the struggles of budget cuts and the rigors of the Ohio Graduation Test, but along the way have made great memories, said Lovely — like the time Mr. Hopkins found all the desks in his classroom turned over or the four substitute teachers they had during Mrs. Montgomery's maternity leave.

Or when Josh Lucas — a senior who had perfect attendance from kindergarten to 12th grade and lettered in five varsity sports — showed up to the 1980s skate party in pink spandex, Lovely recalled to the laughter of his peers and the crowd.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2805 or mgildow@coxohio.com.

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