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Not a B among them
Six of Cibola High School's seven valedictorians talk over possible themes for their graduation speeches while waiting for lunch at Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q, 10136 Coors Blvd. N.W. At the table Wednesday were (counterclockwise from lower right) Charlotte Lane, Emmalee Jones, Brian Jorgensen and his girlfriend, Elise Walker (who is not a valedictorian), Carrie Wright, Vince Metzger and Laura Rogers. By Susie
Gran
Cibola High School's top scholars - all with GPAs of 4.4 - will take the stage together at graduation. Cibola counts seven valedictorians, the largest group in the city. Last year, the West Side school produced 11 valedictorians. That's not to say the Cougars have the smartest students, this year's group agreed. "We're the biggest high school," said Brian Jorgensen, 18. "But you could say that we're smarter, too," he joked. Cibola has about 3,000 students and a graduating class of about 500. Everyone in the valedictorian group had straight A's for four years of high school. Each earned a 4.4 grade-point average because of honors math and English classes that required more work, thus carried more weight when the GPA was computed. They agreed getting all A's was "something you don't want to blow," said Emmalee Jones, 18. But they lamented about one friend - who got one B in her career - who would not join them on stage. "After you get straight A's, you get a high," said Jorgensen, whose father, orthodontist Greg Jorgensen, was also valedictorian. "My parents got C's and stuff," said Carrie Wright, 17. "Now they are freaking out." The valedictorians' parents were beaming. For two of the families, this
is their second child named valedictorian. Emmalee Jones' brother, Matthew
Jones, was the top What the 2005 scholars will say in their addresses was in the planning stages this week. They gathered in Cibola Activity Director Charla Rice's office to brainstorm - something they do well. All are going to college on scholarships to study such fields as pharmacy, biochemistry, biophysics and international business. When they grow up, they want to be genetic researchers, international bankers, computer scientists and pharmacists. But on Tuesday, they had to tackle the speech - their committee farewell to high school on behalf of the class of 2005. No one wanted to reflect on high school. No one wanted to talk about the here and now. So they settled on a theme: the future. Everyone will contribute up to two minutes. They have a 12-minute limit. One of the seven, Ellen Hatch, won't be included, because she's hiking in the Appalachians. She finished her senior year in December. Unfortunately, they can't do a video. That was the 2004 valedictorians' send-off. But it was hard to see and hear in The Pit, so this group would have to find another way to say goodbye, adviser Rice told them. They poured out their ideas: "We could do a debate, but I don't know where that would go." "We could all stand in a line and say one word." "We could try an interpretive valedictorians' dance. A cancan, you think." "We could definitely satirize our valedictorianisms and be totally sarcastic." "We want to do something original." In the end, the group decided to meet again Wednesday at Rudy's restaurant with rough drafts of their two-minute-or-less contributions. They unofficially appointed Metzger their leader, although they overruled his choice of restaurant, the Frontier on Central Avenue. He even offered to drive them all there. "Vince needs to be the leader because he's really good at making things sound good," said Laura Rogers, 18. Across town at Del Norte High School, Cibola's sister school and the smallest in the city, valedictorian Roushan Ghanbari was going it alone with her speech. The 18-year-old wrote her two-minute farewell and had to try out for the speaking job. Del Norte's three valedictorians weren't automatically given the task. The school invites any senior to try out for three speakers' jobs. Ghanbari, also a 4.4 scholar, was chosen for the opening speech, a message that will lead into the graduation message, she said. Hers is one minute, 40 seconds and is about leaving a mark upon the world. Getting straight A's wasn't a goal for her, she said, but it happened in middle school, and she kept it up. She remembers Cleveland Middle School Principal Wayne Smith's words when she graduated from eighth grade. "You would make a great valedictorian for your high school commencement," he said. She didn't think much about it until now. "It's one of those weird coincidences," she said.
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