Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 16, 1995 TAG: 9509180036
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Principal Jim Kelly listed Shockley's school activities, including National and Foreign Language honor societies, and community activities including such volunteer work as helping raise funds for the school's Louisa P. Chrisley Fitness Center which is now open.
"Perhaps the most notable characteristic is the modest, almost shy manner in which this student accepts compliments and assists others," Kelly said. "This individual does not contribute time and effort for personal glory, but does so from a genuine sense of caring for others."
Each year, seniors nominate members of their class for the honor. The five top nominees are then considered by faculty members, who choose the Outstanding Cougar.
Students at the school also heard from one of its own graduates who returned as a motivational speaker for the program, saw two other graduates inducted into the school's Hall of Fame, and watched 93 seniors, 114 juniors and 94 sophomores on the honor roll named to get academic letters.
Ninety-six students were also cited for perfect attendance records. Two thirds of those 96 were among those receiving academic letters.
Added to the school's Hall of Fame were Kenneth B. "Bo" Farmer II, who graduated in 1979 and is an assistant professor at the Department of Physics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and James W. Lark III, class of 1975, an adjunct professor in the University of Virginia Department of Systems Engineering.
Cindy Farmer, formerly with WSLS-TV in Roanoke and now a reporter at a Greensboro, N.C., television station, recalled how her teachers over the years had helped her prepare for her career.
"When I was sitting in your seat some 15 years ago, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do," she said. "I was just an ordinary student but I did have people pushing me. ... Our Guidance Department said there are lots of scholarships available, and there were. And there are."
She said Marian Anderson, a sixth-grade teacher at Dublin Middle School, gave her the first job she ever had in the media by putting her on the annual staff. Another teacher, Suzanne Steel, whose favorite word seemed to be "bamboozled," helped instill her with a love of language, she said.
And Louisa Chrisley, the Pulaski County High School track coach who died of cancer and for whom the school's new fitness center is named, was "probably my best friend here," Farmer said. "She helped with just about everything .... When I had a down day, like everyone does, Louisa was always there."
She also recalled how "Captain" Kelly, as the principal was known when he taught science here, used to share a spread of Irish food with students in the science pod each St. Patrick's Day. He persuaded Farmer to try one of those delicacies, and asked her how she liked it.
She said it tasted all right, but insisted on knowing what it was. He informed her it was "beef tongue ... which I immediately spit all over his shirt!"
by CNB