‘ Keep it up,’ advises new UA graduate

High school seniors all over Tucson and the rest of the country are about to step into a new world. Soon they will go from their familiar surroundings of high school into the unknown territory of college and/or the work force. It’s a scary and exciting transition. And, as they are about to start that new experience, I’m about to leave it. I too will be a graduate, leaving the UA and stepping into a new world.

As I worked on this project I had the opportunity to chat with some very extraordinary students. I read about their achievements and, needless to say, I was impressed. Many of them attained outstanding grades, pursued their passions, bettered the community, worked long hours, excelled in sports and tackled substantial social and family issues. Some of them overcame challenges that no teen should have to face. All of them did it with skill and with their future in mind.

College was a enormous challenge for me. I had many late nights of studying after coming home from work, but I kept doing it in order to achieve my goals.

That may be in store for you, but here’s one piece of advice from one graduate to another: Keep it up, because, as we all can see from your accomplishments thus far, you are all very capable of doing it. Congratulations and good luck with whatever goals you choose to pursue.

Liz Dailey
Assistant Project Editor

Graduates of the new millennium:
Seize the day!

Your smiles and perspectives are as fresh and newly dawned as the century in which you will come of age.

You are the Class of 2000, and this is your big year.

Millennium or not, some things never change. This century's first high school graduates yearn for success like generations of graduating Americans before them. You look forward to meaningful careers, making a difference and the awesome opportunity to strut your stuff.

And some amazing stuff it is! Your bios and profiles chronicle four years of accomplishments. Youthful aesthetic expression illuminates your art, photography and poetry.

As I read about you, I experienced vicariously your joy for life. It carried me back to my own high school adventure, back in those groovy, explosive Sixties. Now I am the mother of my own achiever, Rebecca Dawn Riley, actress, academic star and all-around Wunderkind, but I'm not biased ... My daughter, like many of you, is eager to stamp her impression on yet another educational institution. College, with its freedoms and frontiers, awaits.

Fellow parents, teachers, administrators and Star readers: We present the Class of 2000 Senior Achievers, 800 inspiring young men and women drawn from 73 Tucson and Southern Arizona high schools. It is our fifth annual special section.

I'm bursting with pride for each of you, and humbled as well, surveying all you've accomplished, contemplating how you will move and shake your way into the brave new millennium. You give us hope for a saner America.

Carpe diem — Seize the day!

Marcia Detwiler Riley
Project Editor


Credits:

Project Editor: Marcia Detwiler Riley

Asst. Project Editor: Liz Dailey

Design/Layout: Cheryl Graham, Marcia Detwiler Riley

Copy Desk: Frank Cermak, Mary Cooney, Tim Ellis, Bill Hale, Kerry McVeigh, Nick Pintozzi, Mark Stewart and Tony Tselentis

Photographers: Liz Dailey, Jim Davis, Kristy Mangos, Benjie Sanders, Jeffry Scott, Sergey Shayevich, James S. Wood

Achievers online: Jacqueline Dale, Shelley Dougherty, Don Hammond, Aaron Smitthipong