News editor
Good grades in school don’t happen by accident; students have to make a consistent, genuine effort to succeed in school.
The motivation to keep up that effort is something that has always been instilled in Hillsboro High School valedictorian Courtney Weber and salutatorian Amy Bartel. Both said they were taught from a young age that “good enough” isn’t good enough.
“My parents have always pushed me to try my best in everything I do,” Weber said Friday.
Bartel echoed Weber’s explanation for finding the energy to keep good grades.
“I’ve always been taught to do my best at everything,” Bartel said.
Weber will study elementary education at Emporia State University. She doesn’t have a set idea of what grade level she wants to teach.
“I’m open to anything right now,” she said.
She plans to complete her teaching degree in four years and hopefully get a teaching job immediately, then work toward earning a master’s degree. She also wants to learn to teach English as a second language and is thinking of pursuing a math minor to make herself more marketable as a teacher.
Weber said her teachers in Hillsboro inspired her to become a teacher.
“I think every one of them has made a difference,” she said.
Weber said she has gotten a lot of ideas of how she wants to teach — and a few of how she doesn’t want to teach — from her teachers.
Bartel will study nursing at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Okla. She said she would like to work as a nurse with an organization that responds to disasters around the world.
“I’ve always wanted to travel a lot,” she said.
Bartel gave credit to Len Coryea and Jim Robb as teachers who helped make a difference for her.
“I loved the way they taught,” she said. “It made me remember it.”
Bartel said it was always clear that those teachers cared about the material they were teaching.