
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 11, 1994                   TAG: 9406170109
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NARROWS                                 LENGTH: Medium

CHEERFUL OUTLOOK KEEPS NARROWS SENIOR GOING

If it's the last day of classes and a student is exempt from exams, you'd hardly expect to find her at school.

But that's exactly where Susan Light spent the last Friday of her Narrows High School career. She gave up her free day to finish working on the school's yearbook.

Inside are the faces of this year's 67 graduates - a close class where everyone knows everyone. The students will graduate today in ceremonies at Ragsdale Field.

Light's cheerful personality helped her get things done while editor of the school's monthly newspaper, the Green and Gold Times.

"She's a very easygoing, very pleasant, very patient person," said Dave Roberson, a guidance counselor at Narrows High. "She's been able to bring the diverse personalities together."

Light's involvement in newspapers will continue at Radford University, where she plans to major in journalism.

"I care about people a lot. That's why I want to go into journalism," Light said. "I have an investigative nature. I want to serve the public."

Through the Keyette Club, Light found another way to serve the public. The club visited a local retirement home and played bingo with the residents. They also brought prizes for the winners.

Light also worked 20 hours a week at Wade's in Pearisburg where she met lots of people in the community.

Even with all of her extracurricular activities, Light managed to put academics first. She will graduate second in a class that included three students with grade point averages of 3.5 or more.

"I was very surprised. It was very close," she said.

Forty scholarship awards, valued at $18,575, were presented to the students at the end of the year. Seventy-two percent of the graduates will go on to college; four will go into the military.

Light says she will miss her friends at Narrows, but she looks forward to college. Radford has a few more students than Narrows, 9,400 to 350.

"I cannot wait. I'm not afraid at all," she said.

Light is the daughter of Richard and Rosetta Light of Narrows.

by CNB