Photo by Clinton Lewis

Many people dont remember their first day of first grade. Laura Vilines does. Wednesday night, she told her fellow Greenwood High School graduates about the beginning of her academic career. She had big plans to take over Rich Pond Elementary School and the world, she remembered. Vilines decided to start with the monkey bars. And before she could conquer Earth or even her elementary school, she fell to the ground and broke her arm. But she didnt tell anyone. Vilines said she learned a lesson that day. Sometimes when youre hurting or in pain, its OK to tell someone. Vilines, who will be attending Washington University in St. Louis in the fall, said she was still learning, even as a few scattered raindrops fell on the outdoor commencement. Even as a senior in high school I learned to talk in the rain, she said, jokingly. She had a few words of advice before she returned to her seat. Stay young, play every single day and keep learning, she said. Now I just have to make it off this stage without breaking my arm. Greenwood Principal Peggy Cowles said Vilines was one of the schools two National Merit finalists. Cowles said that of the 269 seniors who received diplomas, 45 percent of them received one or more scholarships. Eighty-three seniors graduated with a 3.5 grade-point average or higher, not including the nine seniors who had 4.0 GPAs.This has been a group of hard-working seniors, Cowles said. Wednesday marked the 12th group of graduates to leave Greenwood and the first class to graduate on the football field in the rain, she said. Oriaku Njoku, a Governors Scholar who will be attending Depauw University in Greencastle, Ind., said that while the past four years at Greenwood have been awesome, shes looking forward to starting college. Njoku, who wants to become a pediatrician or a forensic scientist, attributed her success to good parenting. Her father, Johnston Akuma Njoku, sat in the bleachers proudly as he listened to his daughter give the senior farewell speech. She has a way of surprising even me, he said. Njokus speech was an emotional one. She wept as she went through a list of teachers, friends and family she wanted to thank. And laughed as she talked about some of the things shed miss when she left Greenwood ketchup packets in the lunchroom, parking tags and physical education, to name a few. Njoku got choked up again as she gave the final words from the class of 2002. Now that were done reminiscing over the things well miss most about high school, she said through tears, I guess this is it.