Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on Gage County graduates. The series will conclude in Saturday’s Daily Sun.
It’s a happy time, but a nervous time as graduation approaches for seniors at two area high schools.
“I’m happy it’s here, but nervous to go,” said Matt Baehr, a senior at Southern High school in Wymore.
Fellow Southern senior Tiffany Mewes-Dunn said she, too, is a little nervous about moving on.
But both, just like DeWitt Tri County senior Ashton Meints, are excited about what their future holds.
“I’m pretty excited just to go to college to learn more about what I have an interest in,” Meints said.
She said she plans to go on to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to major in ag journalism and political science.
“I’m really interested in agriculture and with the journalism major I’m more looking at public relations to inform people on ag activities,” Meints said.
As for the political science, she said, “I enjoyed my American government class, and arguing about different points, so political science seems like a good way to go.”
College is in the future for many of the seniors at these schools.
For Baehr, Creighton University in Omaha is the way to go.
“They have what I want to study, I’m thinking about entering the medical field,” he said.
Mewes-Dunn said she’ll be leaving the state to attend college at Kansas State University, majoring in business management.
“I’ve been in FBLA for two years and I’ve really enjoyed that,” she said.
Mewes-Dunn said heading to Kansas State will be a new challenge, with classes much larger than what she’s used to at Southern.
“It’s not a huge city, but it’s big enough that there are things to do,” she said.
Mewes-Dunn said she has been involved in the Upward Bound program for a number of years, which has helped her in looking forward to college, especially since neither of her parents have the experience of attending college to give her guidance on that experience.
“Participation in that program has helped a lot,” she said, because the different workshops it offers, getting them out on college visits and even into college classrooms have helped prepare her for college.
All three seniors said they come from small classes that are pretty close.
“We’re a pretty tight group,” Baehr said.
Meints echoed that, “We’re pretty close, there’s not too many of us and we’re all involved in a lot of the same activities.”
In leaving their home schools and towns, the seniors said they are nervous.
“Moving so far from my family,” Mewes-Dunn said makes her most nervous. “Everywhere you go here, you pretty much know everybody. Going to college I may know a couple people, maybe none.”
Baehr said he feels the same way, adding that he’ll miss the friends he’s used to hanging out with.
Despite those feelings, they’ll still be able to come back.
“I’ll miss my classmates,” Meints said. “But I have siblings still in school, so I’ll be back to watch them in sports.”
Graduation ceremonies for both Southern and Tri County take place Saturday.
Tri County’s ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. in the high school gymnasium, while Southern’s ceremony will be at 6 p.m. Saturday in the high school gymnasium.