Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Three Sweet Home High School seniors, all finishing their prep career with 4.00 grade point averages, have been chosen valedictorians for the 2005-06 school year.
The three are Hayley Cole, Caitlin Thireault and Heidi Wilson.
Emily Dascomb, who is finishing high school with a 3.98 GPA, will serve as salutatorian.
Hayley Cole
Cole, 18, is the daughter of Carlene Erickson and Greg Cole. She said she is the oldest of seven children, including three stepbrothers and one stepsister.
Cole has been on the dance/drill team for four years, helping to lead the Huskiettes to third place in the state this year and, along with fellow senior Chelsea Gagner, was chosen to the all-state 3A/2A/1A dance squad. Astoria was the only other school with more than one member on the 10-member all-state team.
“The dance team was quite a learning experience,” she said.
During high school, she has also been involved in the National Honor Society and with the LINK freshman orientation program.
She is a member of the Cornerstone Fellowship youth group and volunteered with the church’s Vacation Bible School for several years.
“I just keep myself busy,” she said.
Cole said she plans to study psychology at Western Oregon University, then move to Oregon State University, where she wants to earn a master’s degree in psychology.
“I think I want to be a school counselor,” she said.
Cole said she has had a good experience at Sweet Home High School, though she said she might approach high school a bit differently if she had it to do over. She said she planned from the beginning of her freshman year to aim for valedictorian.
“Working for valedictorian took a lot of time, especially in my freshman year,” she said. “I kind of got a late start in being involved. But otherwise, it’s been a great experience.
Caitlin Thireault
Thireault, 18, the daughter of David and Cheryl Thireault, has one sister, her twin, Dani.
She has been active in sports, playing varsity volleyball and softball as a junior and senior, in National Honor Society, and has taken “a lot of AP (advanced placement) classes.”
Thireault said she also helps out with sports camps for younger children in the area, including a softball seminar the Huskies held in April for girls going out for Boys and Girls Club teams.
He said she likes to help in her mother’s classroom at Crawfordsville School.
“On my days off, I’m down there,” she said. “Her whole classroom knows me.”
Thireault said she plans to attend Willamette University to study biology. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she plans to apply for the physician’s assistant program at Oregon Health Science University.
“If that doesn’t work, I might teach biology,” she said. “I might want to coach. I’ve always wanted to be a coach.”
She said that if she were to do high school over, “it’s really cliche – everybody says it – but I wish I’d done more in student government.”
She said doing so would have helped her develop leadership skills and organization skills.
“Sometimes, when I look at what the leadership kids do, I’d like to change it,” she said. “But I thought I was too busy with sports (to get involved).”
Heidi Wilson
Wilson, 18, is the daughter of Sandy Wilson and has two sisters who also attend Sweet Home High School, Jill and Kathy Wilson.
She has run cross-country the past two years and competed in the discus as a freshman. She plays the flute and the piano for the band and the high school choir and has taken a wide range of honors classes. She is a member of the National Honor Society.
Wilson is also a member of the worship team at Cornerstone Fellowship, where she’s also involved with the youth group and teaches Sunday School for 4- and 5-year-olds. She works as a delivery person for Figaro’s Pizza as well.
She said she plans to spend part of the next year on a mission trip with Youth With a Mission, possibly in India.
“I’d like to go to India,” she said. “That’s one of the options. I thought it’d be cool, it’s far away and it’s warm. Especially during the the winter, I thought, ‘Oh, that would be nice.'”
After her YWAM experience, she hopes to attend Oregon State University and possibly major in chemistry – or music – or pharmacology.
“I’ve changed my mind a lot of times,” she said.
Wilson said if she had anything to do over again as a high school student, “I’d be more outgoing. And I really wish I’d taken more Spanish.”
Emily Dascomb
Dascomb, 18, is the daughter of Connie Conner. She has three sisters, two brothers and a half-brother.
At the high school, she played girls varsity soccer from her freshman through her junior year, served as basketball manager for two years, then was head basketball manager this year. She’s a member of Key Club, serving as vice president this year. She also is a member of the National Honor Society and has taken a variety of honors classes. She also played flute in the concert band for three years and tenor saxophone in the jazz band for two years.
She attends Highway 20 Church of Christ, where, she said, she helps out with Sunday School. She also works at Figaro’s.
Dascomb plans to attend Oregon State University to major in chemistry with a forensics option. She hopes to work in law enforcement as a forensics technician.
She said an important thing she’s learned as a high school student is not to get too wound up over difficulties.
“If I had it to do over, I wouldn’t be so stressed out over the little things,” she said. “Now I realize that those things don’t matter.”