Tharptown seniors earn top spots

By Staff
Kim West
THARPTOWN – From kindergarten through their senior year, Beth Lane and Lauren Scott have seen their share of historic moments at Tharptown High School, which will graduate its first senior class of 32 students on May 22.
Along with graduation and senior prom on March 27, they will experience another first this spring after being named the top senior students based on their cumulative grade averages through last fall.
Lane, 18, the final junior high valedictorian at Tharptown, became the high school's first valedictorian with an average of 96.31, which was only eight-hundredths of a point higher than Scott, 17, the class salutatorian. Gaby Gomez nabbed the No. 3 ranking, while Amber Toller was fourth and Brittn/ Campbell ranked fifth.
Lane and Scott, who played together on the first Wildcats team to reach the sub-regional basketball playoffs and were elected to the first senior homecoming court, said they were surprised about their rankings after being notified via the school's public address system in January. Both will attend the University of North Alabama this fall on valedictorian and salutatorian scholarships.
"I knew I'd have a chance, but I didn't know where I stood," said Lane, who belongs to seven clubs at Tharptown, served as president of the school's Future Business Leaders of America chapter and played basketball. "But, I've always wanted to be the (senior) valedictorian ever since junior high school."
"In the back of mind, I thought it might be possible," said Scott, who also belongs to seven clubs, served as president of the National Honor Society and Students Against Destructive Decisions and lettered in basketball, softball and track. "I think I took school more seriously once I was in high school, and I've always worked as hard as I could."
Scott said she plans to keep her salutatorian speech "short and sweet" while thanking her family, classmates and faculty. Lane said she plans to keep her speech under wraps until graduation night after over-rehearsing her junior high valedictorian address. Both said their proudest accomplishment is having the opportunity to represent their classmates.
"Just to be the first graduating class – it's an honor that's hard to explain," Scott said. "It's an opportunity a lot of people don't get to experience."
"We have all worked so hard, and we have been looking forward to this day for so long," Lane said. "I never thought graduation would get here, and now it's almost over."
Principal Darit Riddle, who has been a coach, teacher or administrator for the past 10 years at Tharptown, said Lane and Scott are both outstanding students. He has literally watched the senior class grow up, and he said witnessing the first high school's inaugural graduation will be bittersweet.
"I'm very pleased to have Lauren and Beth represent our senior class, and we couldn't have hand-picked better students for our first salutatorian and valedictorian," said Riddle, who coached both in junior high basketball and has known them since they were kindergarteners. "They are both very trustworthy and the type of people you can go to when you need something done.
"This senior class is special to me because I have coached the girls in junior high basketball and the boys in football … graduation will be kind of a happy day, but also a sad day for me because going to miss having all of these kids around."
Lane, who will major in business at UNA and then apply for physical therapy school at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, is the daughter of Mark and Libby Lane and the granddaughter of Elizabeth Chunn and Ted and Carol Murray and the late Howard Lane.
Scott, who will major in finance at UNA, is the daughter of Tim and Cynthia Scott and the granddaughter of Gaynell Heaps and the late Billy Heaps and Judy Scott and the late Brownie Scott.