By CHRIS MEYERS
Staff Writer
     From the adult leadership at Smith-Green Community Schools, the message was clear — there is much more ahead in life and the learning does not stop with the completion of high school.
     “Continue to be an active learner … from this day, forth,” Bruce Hippensteel, interim superintendent at SGCS, told the graduates of 2009.
     He stressed that as the graduates head into the next step in life, the should ask questions, observe, listen and most importantly, to give back to the community where they decided to live.
     For the students though, it was more about their own academic and athletic accomplishments during their time together at Churubusco High School.
     Salutatorian Allison Norris highlighted the triumphs of the schools’ athletic teams that included regional, conference, semi-state and state performances. She also noted that eight of the top 10 students were athletes.
     “Each of these outstanding achievements has brought respect and admiration back to CHS,” Norris said, and added that 40 of the 117 grads had an honors diploma waiting for them.
     Valedictorian Alayna Skinner said that the futures of the grads, although separate from one another, were forged together as the class made it through the last four years.
     “Now, we get the opportunity to go into the world and leave our mark,” Skinner said.

     She said it is an enormous responsibility which awaits the graduates who are ready and willing to tackle whatever the future holds and the importance of approaching life with a positive attitude.
     “Our experiences at Churubusco have prepared us for the future by not only providing us with not only the knowledge we will need, but the also the foundation and family, the morals and values, that are necessary in life,” Skinner said.
     CHS Principal Austin Couch said that although the graduates’ parents and family had entered a world after their own graduation that was a bit more stable and had a workforce with jobs ready to offer, he was confident in the futures the graduates would make for themselves.
     Regardless of their paths, the students’ princpal hoped the graduates will make the most of their lives and be accountable for their actions.
     “I hope you will remember that most important, you are responsible for what you do and what you say,” he said.
Couch asked rhetorically what the students would do with their dreams if they knew they couldn’t fail.
     “Would you aspire to be a professional athlete? Would you sing in front of a crowd? Would you play in a rock band?    Maybe you’d start your own company, or maybe, you’d write the modern day version of “The Old Man and the Sea,” he said.
     “Would your dreams be different you knew you couldn’t fail? I don’t think they should be,” Couch said.

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