Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Bryan Warth enjoys learning.
When he entered Sweet Home High School four years ago, he had one goal: to take advantage of the opportunities before him.
“I wanted to be like people who get ahead,” he said. “I took all the honors, all the AP and CP credits that I could. I could use them to prepare for the future for free and I hoped that if I could do well in school, I could get scholarships.”
Now he exits the high school as this year’s valedictorian, with a 3.96 grade point average (two B’s, he said), and leaving a legacy of as much student involvement as a Cascadia kid without wheels (until recently) could produce.
“Unfortunately, because of living out of town, I only was able to play freshman basketball,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of four-wheeling and firewood cutting.
“That’s kind of one of my sports,” he added, with a broad grin. Warth figures he’s cut between 130 and 140 cords of firewood during his years in high school, working after school.
He also does some beekeeping and helps his dad with his logging business.
“It’s kind of fun,” he said. “I also work for farmers during the summers.”
When he got his driver’s license, his involvement in school increased, Warth said.
“I can drive now,” he said. “That’s opened up a lot of opportunities.”
As a junior, he got involved in class board, but was unable to make it into the leadership class, which was his goal.
So Warth ran for the student government and won a seat as second vice president.
“That gives me a chance to have a say in things,” he said.
His duties included giving reports to the School Board at its monthly meeting and helping to plan fire drills and student activities.
In school, Warth said he’s really enjoyed many of the classes he’s taken at Sweet Home.
Learning is clearly important to him.
“Next year I hope to go to LBCC and try out the heavy equipment-diesel tech two-year degree,” he said. “I’m interested in going into business with my dad. I figure a college education can help with that. My grandpa told me, ‘The more you learn, they can’t take that away.’
“That’s what really fascinates me. There’s so much stuff to learn out there,”
Many things fascinate Warth: his AP history classes, shop classes, engineering.
“What fascinates me about engineering (is) you can take a real-life problem, apply math, and solve it,” he said.”
What he likes about metal and wood shop classes is “you can go home and make something yourself.”
He said he’s a little sorry now that he didn’t take calculus and college-prep chemistry, though he skipped those classes because they didn’t fit into what he needed for the diesel tech program at LBCC.
Warth said if he were to offer advice to new high schoolers, it would be this: “Use high school to your advantage.
“You have choices to take it easy and have fun and play around, or you have the chance to really learn something and prepare for your future,” he said. “People need to take the extra challenge. No pain, no gain.
“But,” Warth added, “you can still have fun. It would be dull if you didn’t. Be involved in school, in student government, in activities the school puts on. Be part of it.”