Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, May 19, 2005

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, May 26, 2005

Gina GUNSOLLEY, daughter of Frank and Joan GUNSOLLEY of Diagonal, ws named valedictorian and Eric STARLIN, son of Mont and Nikki STARLIN of Diagonal, was named salutatorian for the class.

Just two hundredths of a point behind STARLIN was Joe WERNER, witht the final grades determining who would be salutatorian, according to high school principal Larry TEPLEY.

Scholarships announced included:

Lions Club scholarships -- Bradley BENTLEY, Robbie MASON, Gina GUNSOLLEY, Jeremy SOBOTKA, Eric STARLIN and Joe WERNER.

Diagonal Education Association scholarships -- Bradley BENTLEY and Eric STARLIN.

Great Western Bank scholarship -- Brad BENTLEY.

U.S. Bank scholarship -- Gina GUNSOLLEY.

Southwestern Community College Education Foundation scholarships -- Jeremy SOBOTKA, Joe WERNER and Josh FORD.

Ringgold County Auxiliary scholarship -- Eric STARLIN.

Ringgold County Soil and Water Conservation Service scholarship -- Eric STARLIN.

Sue Rychnovsky memorial scholarship -- Brad BENTLEY and Eric STARLIN.

Sharon Sobotka Overholser memorial scholarship -- Gina GUNSOLLEY and Brad BENTLEY.

Dollars for Scholars scholarships -- Bradley BENTLEY, John FORD, Gina GUNSOLLEY, Robbie MASON, Jeremy SOBOTKA, Eric STARLIN and Joe WERNER.

Louis zaruba memorial scholarship -- Eric STARLIN.

Margaret Taylor memorial scholarship -- Bradley BENTLEY.

Buck and Louise Kessler memorial scholarships -- Eric STARLIN and Gina GUNSOLLEY.

Awards presented included:

Iowa Bar Association citizenship award -- Gina GUNSOLLEY.

Bernie Saggan award -- Robbie MASON.

E. Wayne Cooley award -- Gina GUNSOLLEY.

Des Moines Register Iowa Academic All-state Team -- Gina GUNSOLLEY.

Presidential Educational Excellence Award -- Gina GUNSOLLEY.

U.S. Marines Distinguished Athletic Award -- Gina GUNSOLLEY and Robbie MASON.

Dick STEPHENS was presented with the Dekko Teach to Reach award after being nominated by several of the high school students including valedictorian Gina GUNSOLLEY [and Eric STARLIN, Joe WERNER, Brad BENTLEY, Jeremy SOBOTKA, Tangi CAMPBELL and Shaun WALKUP].

GUNSOLLEY also presented STEPHENS with a valedictorian teacher award.

Speakers for the ceremony included STARLIN, GUNSOLLEY and STEPHENS.

STARLIN shared his unique experience of playing four different sports in three different school districts as part of his high school career. STARLIN played baseball and basketball in Diagonal, wrestled at East Union and played football in Mount Ayr through sharing programs. He told the crowd that he learned a lot having three "hometowns" through high school. The experience helped him build confidence, make new friends and led to huge gas bills.

"It is important to get outside of your comfort zone," he said. He told how the support of people around home helped him be successful and secure in these new situations.

While he challenged fellow students to move outside their comfort zones into the world, he said it was important to keep in touch with friends and family no matter how one's comfort zone expands.

He told underclassman that keeing up grades were improtant and that they were more than just letters on a piece of paper. He noted how important colleges find them in evaluating what a student can do.

In summing up, he challenged students to go beyond their comfort zones, try new experiences, stay focused on their goals and remember the importance of friends and family.

Gina GUNSOLLEY shared a number of humorous examples of the challenges that members of the class had met over the years.

She told stories of classmates flying off treadmills, riding shopping carts down main street, stopping to shoot a decoy one thought was a turkey and pushing a car back to Diagonal from the Pole Road.

She noted how class members had been able to rise above challenges in the past and asked students to face up to their new challenges and continue to make life interesting.

"Don't give up when faced with challenges," she said. "Go after the thing you want and desire."

Dick STEPHENS, who has taught science for 37 years and came back to teaching after retiring two years ago, was the main speaker for the ceremony.

He used the theme "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" which grew out of a class discussion when seniors were beginning to show some "senioritis" this spring. He had told the class that it seemed silly to row like crazy three fourths of the way across the lake and then give up and drift away from the goal.

STEPHENS shared an experience of duck hunting with his son in Montana on a marsh that was beginning to freeze over. Rowing through icy waters was very tough and his arms began to feel like rubber after a while. When they got to the spot where they were setting up to hunt, however, there was an awesome sunrise in the marsh set among mountains all around it. Thinking back on the experience, he noted that what stuck out in his memory was the awesome sunrise, not the work it took to get there.

Victories over one's own shortcomings are more important than winning over some other person, he said. "If you complete fairly and squarely and hold yourself to a high standard, victory is sweeter."

He said that the support parents had made for students to get them to this point in their lives was a good example of the tenacity he was talking about.

"Where would you be if your parents had stopped rowing four or five years ago?" he asked.

He challenged the students to use education as a rowboat to get them to where they wanted to go in life. "Don't give up rowing until you hit your goal on the other shore," he said.

Class motto was "It's people like us that make life interesting." Class flowers are maroon tipped white roses and the class colors are maroon, black and silver.

Judy NEWTON provided music for the program and Mont STARLIN presented the diplomas on behalf of the school board. A flower was presented in memory of Jared WHITTINGTON, who would have been a member of the graduating class.

Members of the class included Bradley Alan BENTLY, Tangi Lynn CAMPBELL, A. J. CHRISTENSEN, Joseph Ryan FORD, Josh James FORD, Gina Lee GUNSOLLEY, Robert Eugene MASON, Jacqueline RODRIGUEZ, Jeremy Edward SOBOTKA, Eric Wayne STARLIN, Shaun James WALKUP, Philip Steven WARD and Joseph James WERNER.

Photographs courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News

Transcription and submission by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012; updated November of 2012