Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 3, 1993 TAG: 9306030433
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But last year, the juniors beat the seniors to it. And, it is said, the class of '92 was pretty upset.
Not that the then-juniors minded. In some funny ways, the now-seniors have lived up to the huge pastel letters roller-painted upside-down on the lot: "LIKE WE CARE."
But lest you believe the Lord Botetourt class of '93 doesn't care about anything, consider this: While the words serve as the unofficial class motto - and indeed, some seniors joke their class hasn't cared since they were freshmen - the words are deceiving at best.
This is a class that cares more than it knows.
Seniors Christie Seitz, Lori Fadorick, Tarra Craft, Brian Neal, Bryan Hunley and Chris Perrin will be among the 188 graduates who ceremoniously will move their tassels on June 17. All will stay in the Roanoke Valley after graduation, either going to college, working or both. And all will miss the school they leave behind, even though there were times when they couldn't wait to get out.
"This is my life. It's all I've known for 13 years. And now it's going to be over," says Perrin, who plans to attend Roanoke College this fall. Though he's excited to be graduating, his feelings of leaving the familiar halls of his soon-to-be alma mater are mixed.
"One more year would be great. But I might say next year, `Oh, one more year,' again. . . . "
One more year might be pretty swell, especially when it's topped off with a serious bout of senioritis. But it won't happen for these seniors. All have post-high school plans - including for most a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the famed Senior Week.
With Perrin, Fadorick and Neal will go to Roanoke College; Seitz will attend Virginia Western Community College; and Craft and Hunley will work first, then concentrate on classes.
There are definite advantages for these seniors in sticking close to home. Namely money.
Seitz knows college tuitions are on the rise, so she will attend Virginia Western for the first two of her college years because, "basically, it's the cheapest."
But aside from the monetary benefit of life in the valley - after high school - these seniors will have at least one thing their departing friends won't: "You can run to Mommy only five minutes away," laughs Neal.
That's a benefit Craft will live with, literally. She will stay with her family in the valley because she doesn't want to leave her 3-year-old sister behind. That love of children will translate in a valleywide job hunt at day-care centers. Even with the prospect of mailing resumes and doing job interviews, Craft says she is not nervous, for there is a certain comfort in staying home.
Hunley will stay in the valley, too. His comfort is his job. He attends half-day classes at Lord Botetourt through the Industrial Cooperative Training program before heading to work at Roanoke & Botetourt Telephone Co. in Daleville. He hopes to become a full-time employee after graduation.
"My theory is, why quit a job when you can take night classes," Hunley reasons. He says he may take evening classes at Virginia Western this fall.
Neal and Fadorick also have jobs to report to. He'll work the graveyard shift at Roanoke College this summer as a police dispatcher. But he's not sweating the upcoming midnight to 8 a.m. shift. Neal's glad to have the job, which will help pay his college tuition and give him valuable experience in his field of study - criminal justice.
Fadorick will keep her part-time job at Kroger on U.S. 460. Like Neal, she'll live at home while taking classes at Roanoke College, which will keep her tuition to a minimum. She learned quickly that, "Everything costs money."
Class members also are learning time is running out.
"I'm kind of really excited, but kind of scared, too," says Seitz. "This is what you shoot for since kindergarten. And now it's here."
This "happy-go-lucky" class - the one that has never won a hall decorating contest, might have won one pep rally, but really doesn't remember, and has never claimed much spirit as a unit anyway, is learning that the goodbyes on the way are inevitable. And that's something they do care about.
This class will miss their friends, some of whom they've known since kindergarten.
"The thing I like about Lord Botetourt," says Neal, "is there are no real cliques. Everyone pretty much gets along. I don't think in college you'll have that same feeling. I don't think we're ever going to be as close as we are now."
by CNB