Friday, June 3, 2005

By JAY GOETTING
Register Staff Writer

More than 400 graduating seniors from Vintage High School were told to reach for the stars as they prepare to go out into the world following their four years of studies.

"You are going to do great things," Principal Eric Schneider told the group before a capacity crowd of friends and relatives at Memorial Stadium. "True happiness is not necessarily found in a big paycheck. It's in the friends you make."

The class of 2005, with its 418 students, had 29 with weighted grade point averages higher than 4.0, a high achievement in any educational institution. More than a dozen are members of the Honor Society, and many had earned other distinctions during their high school careers.

The recorded big band strains of Harry Connick Jr. greeted the crowd. That quickly segued to Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" under the baton of Vintage High band director William Gantt as the students filed in.

An emotional Kaitlin Losey, one of four student speakers representing the Top One Percent Society, reminded her colleagues that life is precious and invoked the memory of classmate Shannon Lemieux who died in an auto accident in March.

"Life is short, and time is precious," said Losey. "Make the most of every single day. Take chances."

The love and support of friends and family are a great part of the success the students have gained, said another speaker, Amy Fechter. "Know you can't just walk through the door (into your future)," she said. "But now we see a light beneath it."

Natalie LaRochelle said her four years of high school were not at all like the television stereotypes she had come to expect. "We are a large group of emerging adults," she said.

In a more philosophical vein, Isabel Yerkes said, "We have a mandate to change the world. At the end of this high school journey, we have no idea if we will become what we planned," she said, urging them to "Make things happen."

In predicting great things for the class of 2005, Schneider said high school for the young grads has been like working for 20 bosses with multiple performance reviews, good preparation for the real world.

Prior to handing out the diplomas, Schneider recalled the reading of Herman Hesse's "Siddhartha," required for many of the students. The principal recalled the protagonist's journey and his quest to learn from himself the mysteries of the world.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Dear editor,

Once again, your editing staff chose to print an extremely disturbing, inappropriate, disrespectful photograph. I refer to page A2 of March 5's edition of the Napa Register. As a continuation of the front page story titled "Teen's Life Cut Short In Crash," a picture of Shannon Lemieux's Honda Civic is shown with what is unmistakably her body in a yellow body bag. Accepting her tragic, untimely death is burden enough for her family and friends, opening the newspaper to such a painful photo only intensifies the pain. I am terribly disappointed in your editing abilities.

Rebecca Hollman

Napa