Alex Paul
Two students with perfect 4.0 grade point averages will lead the class of 2004 at its June 4 commencement.
Valedictorians at Emily Coulter, 18, daughter of Jay and Akemi Coulter of 27954 Meridian Heights Loop and Megan Snow, 17, daughter of Billy and Barbara Snow of 38910 Mountain Home Drive.
Salutatorian will be Mallory Carlson, 17, daughter of Harvey and Lori Carlson of 41741 Marks Ridge Drive.
The trio bring not only academic prowess to the podium but also athletic and extracurricular skills as well.
Emily Coulter
Co-valedictorian
Coulter has a two brothers, Frank, 19, and Larry, 16, and a sister, Ellen, 11.
She was the freshman girl of the year, student of the month and earned a letter in swimming.
She has volunteered at the public library, helped with Thanksgiving baskets was on the homecoming court and is a member of the National Honor Society.
Her best high school experience has been a trip to Ashland that was “awesome” because she was able to see two interesting plays and to go shopping with close friends.
If she had high school to do over, she would “worry less about what everyone else thinks about me. This alone would have saved a lot of time and energy.”
Coulter believes SHHS is strong because of its teaching staff. “There are several excellent teachers who are willing to help anyone,” she said. She would like to see more guidance time available to help students with scholarship applications and planning their future. She would hire more counselors to do that.
Her favorite class is calculus “because everything I learned in that class was new and Mr. Tow made the class fun.”
Physics was her least favorite class because it didn’t “interest me at all.”
If she could design the school curriculum it would include a mandatory class where students are exposed to various occupations and to undertake job showing.
Coulter plans to attend LBCC to major in pre-nursing. She then plans to transfer to Linnfield College for her nursing degree.
She would like to work, travel and eventually get married and rear a family.
Megan Snow
Co-valedictorian
If you want to catch up with Megan Snow, you’d better put on your running shoes. She’s a cross country and track and field athlete who has been cross country MVP for three years, first team all league in 2003, third team all league in 2001 and 2002 and a state qualifier in 2003. She has also earned the team hustle and coaches awards.
Snow has two sisters, Erika, 15, and Jessica, 12, and a brother, Dakota, 10.
She is a member of the National Honor Society, has earned the CIM (Certificate of Initial Mastery), traveled to Josai in Japan, is involved with LINK, has been on the class boards for four years and attends St. Helen’s Catholic church and its youth group.
Running, she says, has allowed her to be “surrounded by friends, to set goals and to reach them.”
If she had high school to do over, she would have “tried to get involved with more volunteer activities.”
SHHS’ strength is “It has a good staff so you get a quality education and fun experience in school. However, there are some people who have a really negative attitude that can bring others down.”
“If I could change something about our high school, I would make all sports official school sports (not club sports) and give full funding to every sports program,” Snow said.
Her favorite class was Mr. Nieman’s English because “they were always fun, you learned a lot and he’s a great teacher.”
Her least favorite class was “any math class because I just don’t like math.”
If she were to design the school curriculum, “there would be more electives to choose from and they would be offered in a way that more students could fit them into their schedules. There would be no CIM or CAM requirements.”
Snow plans to attend the University of Oregon to study business. In the long term, she wants to graduate, get a job and start a family.
Mallory Carlson
Salutatorian
When Mallory Carlson was still in grade school, she was one of the best free-throw shooters in the community, annually besting all comers at the Elks Hoop Shoot.
She’s as sharp in the classroom as she has been on the court, earning the salutatorian’s spot for the Class of ’04.
Carlson has two brothers, Brian, 35 and Kasey, 21, and a sister, Vickie, 37.
Carlson was active in basketball three years, volleyball three years, softball two years and soccer for a year.
In addition to her SHHS activities, Carlson spent a school year at Josai University High School in Tokyo and continues her love of travel with the international club in Eugene.
She attends Community Chapel and works at the A and W Restaurant.
Carlson has earned numerous awards including English I student of the year, English II and American History student of the year, Student of the Month, Elk of the Month, and is a member of the National Honor Society.
Her trip to Japan was her best high school experience because, “able to immerse myself in a different culture and meet lots of new people.”
If she had high school to do over, she “would have found a way to take leadership class and juggle all my schoolwork on top of that, instead of telling myself I wouldn’t have the time.”
The school’s strengths are “massive amounts of activities throughout the school year that get students more involved such as homecoming, may week, powder puff football, the talent show, etc. It is great to always have something going on in which one can get involved.”
A weakness is that even though speed bumps were installed behind the high school, too many students are still driving too fast.
If she could change something at the school it would be the “basic policy for homecoming court. I would make it so that every year only seniors can be on it, that way there is no controversy when six or eight junior girls make it on the court and only two seniors make it.”
Her favorite class has been AP English “because it’s fun to read books that deal with different issues and eras of time.”
Her least favorite class has been AP history because “It was very stressful and not something I would want to do over again.”
If she could design the school curriculum, Carlson would “make more foreign classes available to take. I am really interested in Japanese, so I would make it available. Other than that, I’d keep things the same.”
Carlson plans to attend the University of Oregon to study international business.
In the long-term she wants to have a family and be “involved in the American/Japanese market and trading.”