In The News: NHS' brightest weathered many changes

Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic 

This year's valedictorians, salutatorians take pride in class accomplishments amid transitions at high school

When the class of 2017 started at Newberg High School four years ago, it was in the final year of the small-schools format.

Since then, the biggest constant the group has seen may be change itself, as this year's graduating seniors have had three different lead principals in the past three years.

According to this year's 13 valedictorians and three salutatorians, the lack of consistency has been both an obstacle and something that has united them. They plan to celebrate that at graduation, which will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at Loren Douglas Field.

"Our class has gone through four different administrators in four years," Emily Weiler said. "Some of us had four advisors in four years, or at least two, so we're pretty accustomed to change. I'd say we handled it pretty well."

Weiler, who served as a student representative to the school board and will attend Whitworth University in the fall, noted that this year's group of 4.0-GPA students is representative of one of the high school's strengths in that each has taken advantage of the wide variety of academic and extracurricular options it offers.

"There is so much stuff you can do and I feel like that's one thing Newberg is really good at, having really diverse avenues to explore yourself," Weiler said.

For example, Weiler and fellow valedictorians Amy Lowe and Abby Mortensen primarily participated in performing arts, while others like Josh Butorac, Madison Hergert, Katie Kisling, Shannon Leffler, Conner Morris, Taylor Rarick, Quinton Read, Brandon Takahashi and Rayce Vergets focused mostly on sports.

Weiler herself was a member of several of Newberg's bands and choirs, winning a state championship with the Vocal Point ensemble choir in 2016 and as part of a woodwind duo in 2017, but is undecided on a major.

Lowe and Mortensen, meanwhile, were both honor thespians and youth camp volunteers. Lowe plans to attend Hampshire College to study neuroscience and Mortensen will enroll at Portland Community College in hopes of becoming a sign language interpreter.

Hergert and Rarick leave NHS as two of the most decorated athletes in school history, but were equally impressive in the classroom and both, coincidentally, will compete for Concordia University-Irvine next year.

Rarick was recently named an Esmark Women's Basketball All-American, as well as first-team academic all-state, while Hergert won the Class 6A 400 meter state title and received both Newberg's Carolyn DeCrevel and Female Senior Athlete of the Year awards.

Kisling will also continue her athletic career as a water polo player for Fresno Pacific University, with football standout Conner Morris hoping to do the same at Linfield College despite an injury that cut his senior year short. Linfield awarded him its Presidential Scholarship in addition to the $1,000 Scholar Athlete Award he received earlier this year from the National Football Foundation.

In addition to numerous academic awards, cross-country and track stalwart Quinton Read has received an athletic scholarship to run at Goshen College in Indiana, where he plans to major in business. Read was also an accomplished wrestler at Newberg and, along with fellow valedictorians Kisling and Takahashi, received a $1,000 scholarship from the Newberg Booster Club last week.

Leffler, a teammate of Rarick's on the basketball court, has received the Presidential Scholarship from the University of Portland and intends to major in biology and psychology.

To earn the honor, this year's valedictorians posted 4.0 grade-point averages while taking honors classes. Three of them will attend Gonzaga University, making it the most popular choice in the group.

That includes Dean's Scholarship recipients Vergets and Butorac, who will study civil engineering and business, respectively, as well as Takahashi, who will study computer engineering after being a leader in the NHS robotics program the past several years. Takahashi was also a member of the Tigers' baseball and soccer teams and an active volunteer in the community.

Mikayla Morgan and Luis Nadora were also top-notch athletes in their own right, but in less traditional sports, and both will attend Portland State University. Morgan was a member of Newberg's equestrian team and will major in math and physics at PSU, while Nadora was named 2017 Oregon Gymnast of the Year and was state champion in the pommel horse event. Also a member of the NHS symphonic choir, Nadora will major in electrical engineering.

Morris is one of three salutatorians in this year's class, as he and Zachary Whalen posted a 4.0 grade-point average in non-honors classes. The third salutatorian, John McCarthy, followed the honors track, but is graduating in three years and will attend the University of the Pacific to study mechanical engineering.

A three-time FFA AgriScience state champion and member of Newberg's state champion Envirothon team, McCarthy also participated in robotics and volunteered at the Chehalem Cultural Center and the Hillsboro Air Show.

Morris plans to major in exercise science at Linfield, while Whalen is undecided on what school he will attend and what he will study.

Most of the group identified engaging and supportive teachers as their favorite thing about the high school, which helped them weather many of the changes they faced.

"We've been dealing with adversity pretty well, stuck together through a lot of stuff throughout the four years I'd say," Morris said.