Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 17, 1993 TAG: 9306170350
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RINER LENGTH: Medium
They huddled in groups in classrooms, waiting for hall passes or for their parents to check them out for the day. Most had finished their work for the year. Teachers were entering final grades into their books and occasionally shhh-ing the rowdy ones.
In the hallways, teachers discussed the accumulated clutter a year brings, their book orders and teaching assignments for next year.
A few miles away, Sharon Cox was oblivious to all that.
Cox, the valedictorian for the Class of '93, had finished all her class work, had set aside her speech and was clearly ready to graduate.
The speech has no particular theme, she said. It's more a potpourri of thoughts. She wrote it "a couple weeks ago so I wouldn't have to be cramming for it."
It's likely that that approach - getting things done - has helped Cox attain the academic success she has over the years.
She's graduating with a 4.15 grade-point average, had high SAT scores, took advanced studies classes and holds a part-time job.
She was co-editor of the yearbook, president of the Student Council Association, captain of her Mountain Academic Competition Conference. Earlier in her school career, she played basketball and tennis and was in the band.
Pat Turner, one of the senior class sponsors, said Cox is "very bright. She's very conscientious. She really tries for the `A.' "
Thirty-one of the 68 graduating seniors were on the honor roll for the fifth six-weeks grading period. In fact, this year, all students who were eligible to graduate are graduating, something that hasn't happened in many years.
Cox will attend Roanoke College as a history major. Washington and Lee University was her first choice, but she was able to get more scholarship money from Roanoke College.
"I didn't have nearly enough money to go to W&L," Cox said.
She accumulated $9,600 in scholarships and grants from Roanoke College.
She also was the only Montgomery County student to win one of 147 Robert C. Byrd scholarships of $1,500 a year for four years. Turner also is impressed that Cox beat out other Montgomery County seniors to capture the local Wal-Mart's $1,000 scholarship.
Turner said Cox was a quiet student the first two years of high school, but "Sharon came into her own the last two years," - taking disputes and problems to the principal or teachers.
Steve Bull, history teacher and MACC coach, agrees.
"She's really blossomed this year. She's developed a lot of self-confidence," he said, and is probably one of the strongest MACC competitors in the area.
Attending a small school has its advantages, Cox said. That's probably why her top college choices were Roanoke and W&L.
"I couldn't go somewhere where I was just a number."
At the same time, she said, there are "some opportunities you find you don't have," when talking to other students from other area schools.
She has felt "the stigma that goes along with being at Auburn - almost like being a second-class citizen in the county" when another county student heard she was from Auburn and seemed surprised that the school was in Montgomery County.
Cox said the class has had a lot of discussions about the issue of prayer at graduation. The ACLU sent the school a letter to let them know they were watching them, she said. The class probably will have decided what it will do at graduation practice Wednesday, Cox said.
"At this point, I think everybody just wants to graduate and forget it."
\ AUBURN HIGH CLASS OF '93\ \ NUMBER OF GRADUATES: 68\ \ NUMBER OF HONOR GRADUATES: 12 with 3.0 or better\ \ VALEDICTORIAN: Sharon P. Cox\ \ SALUTATORIAN: Amy E. Shanks\ \ NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 24\ \ VALUE OF SCHOLARSHIPS: $41,000\ \ COMMENCEMENT TIME & LOCATION: Tonight at 8 in the Auburn High School gymnasium \ COLLEGE-BOUND OR CONTINUING EDUCATION GRADUATES: 45\ \ MILITARY-BOUND GRADUATES: 5
by CNB