A final salute to the Class of 2009

Graduation ceremonies tonight will end one phase in the lives of the Pueblo West High School Class of 2009.

Tomorrow will begin the next one.

I'm predicting big things for this group of young men and women.

Valedictorian B.J. Ebersole set a standard for academic excellence that will be hard to beat. He was perfect on the ACT and near-perfect on the SAT. Along the way he showed he was more than just a bookworm.

He made regular trips to Pueblo West Elementary School where he not only taught the young students to play chess, he started a chess club. The legacy of those students exercising their minds playing a truly mental game will linger long after Ebersole has gone to college.

Salutatorian Ryan Larson excelled in the classroom and on the basketball court. He didn't simply dispel the obnoxious notion of "dumb jock," he obliterated it.

Larson earned all-conference honors on the basketball court. In the classroom, he starred in advanced placement classes in English, calculus, physics and statistics.

As outstanding as these two students are, the best part about the PWHS Class of 2009 is that there are more where that came from. Many more.

A total of 82 students earned academic scholarships totaling more than $3 million.

Ebersole earned a prestigious Boettcher Scholarship. Student Body President Gio DiDomenico earned a Hurliman Scholarship.

Several other students received scholarships worth $100,000 or more.

It is a sign that the students at PWHS are not only smart, they are disciplined and determined - traits that will help them in whatever they do later in their lives.

So, as the Class of 2009 take its final bow tonight at the Colorado State Fair Events Center, savor what its members accomplished. But not for too long. Those same students will be doing bigger and better things in the future.

The Class of 2009 set the bar pretty high for succeeding classes at PWHS. The goal for the Class of 2010 and beyond should be to top the accomplishments of the Class of 2009.

It won't be easy, but I can tell you this, I won't be betting against them.

Mike Spence is editor of The View. He can be reached by e-mail at mspence@pueblowestview.com. 

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