Bridgette Hightshoe, Eva Engel Share Honors; Worth County Graduates Fewest Since 1910

Bridgette Hightshoe was Valedictorian and Eva Engel was Salutatorian as Worth County graduated the fewest seniors since the 1910 school year. Thirteen students walked the aisle for Worth County this year. Gilman City, a school a fraction the size of Worth County, graduated 14 this year.

Class President Abbi Brown said that despite the small size, the class pulled together as a group even though incidents such as doing one group project with one student doing all the work.

Jonell Cook, long-time FACS teacher, talked about how AI has drastically changed the way people do things. She took some pictures and ran them through Chat GPT, which spit out some interesting answers on what the various members of the Class of 2025 might be up to.

Along the way, she showed pictures of the kids. One showed four girls doing a space flight simulator, with another showing two of the boys working on their community service project.

But despite the rise of AI, Cook said that most of the things that were common sense a long time ago were still common sense today. She encouraged the students:

—Don’t be a jerk;

—Be mindful of what you’re putting online;

—Ask for help if needed;

—Be intentional in relationships; watch for red flags;

—Push yourself;

—Work for what you want to achieve;

—Invest in yourself;

—Don’t forget your siblings;

—Life has no remote.

Eva Engel remembered some of the crazy things that took place in school, like the colorful hair that Bridgette would wear, bartering for erasers, pencils, and other trinkets, and blowing all one’s money on the class auction. Engel plans to compete in Pole Vault for Missouri Southern and be a teacher. She was a cadet teacher at Worth County this year, and many of her elementary students came to her graduation and to her graduation party afterwards to show support. 

Bridgette Hightshoe also talked about her dreams; she is going to Northwest and study to become a vet. She talked about growing up on a small farm and playing vet with her family’s animals and pets. She recounted studying the cells of 100 year old people, burying each other in the rubber chips on the playground when they thought the teacher wasn’t looking and getting caught anyway, making ice cream trips, burying them, and finding out the hard way that it melts two days later, missing a big chunk of junior high due to COVID-19, and FFA trips.

Hightshoe told stories of her classmates, such as the threesome of herself, Eva, and Abby. She named Carter as the best dancer, Cannon as the student always carrying snacks, Evan as the student always working on his truck, Keaten Morin as the best cook, and Emma as the most competitive.

Graduating besides Brown, Hightshoe, and Engel were Evan Baker, Karson Briner, Carter Chapman, Eliza Corey, Cannon Fletcher, Camdain Frisch, Keaten Morin, Anissa Russell, Emma Spencer, and Mackenzie Walter.

Class officers were Abbi Brown (President), Emma Spencer (Vice-President), Mackenzie Walter (Secretary), and Eva Engel (Treasurer). Eva Engel and Abbi Brown were Student Council Representatives. Sponsors were Rebecca New and Sarah Smith.

The class motto was, “Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning.” The class color was light purple. The class flower was the sunflower. The class song was, “Springsteen” by Eric Church. Mackenzie Walter designed the program cover.