
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990                   TAG: 9006150470
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: ELLIE SCHAFFZIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STAUNTON RIVER GRADS LOOK AT FUTURE

The last time Erica Suzanne Thompson had stood in front of the multicolored lockers was in eighth grade, but it all came back to her when she entered the Staunton River Middle School gym Thursday, wearing graduation cap and gown.

"The smell, it's like eighth grade . . . oh my word," Thompson, a top-10 student, said as she joined her 190 classmates who were lining up to receive their diplomas from Staunton River High in Bedford County. The high school has no gym.

Christine Desma Dennis, who also finished among the top 10 in the class, stood quietly nearby, reviewing her speech.

"I'm incredibly nervous," she said.

Dennis filed in with the others, many of whom were leaving the procession to stop at the water fountain for a drink. The heat-stricken students had to hold onto their mortar boards when a senior sponsor turned the fan their way to help them cool off.

Before the graduates and their families were seated, Lisa Ann Marchese led them in the pledge of allegiance. Though she had omitted a few lines when she wrote the pledge down shortly before the ceremony - blaming it on nerves, of course - she got it right during the ceremony with a little help from the crowd.

After a subdued speech by Dennis, Thompson spoke on the graduation's theme: "He who chooses the beginning of a road also chooses its destination." Thompson's road will begin at Roanoke College, which she will attend in the fall.

The first diploma was handed to Allyson Nicole Cawley, whom the students honored with a standing ovation. Cawley arrived at the ceremony by ambulance and remained on a stretcher in her cap and gown. She is recovering from injuries she suffered in a head-on automobile accident May 15.

She almost didn't make it to graduation.

"The doctors told her that she wouldn't be able to travel," said Dennis Cawley, the girl's father. "Tuesday, they decided it meant so much to her that they let her go."

Allyson Cawley, who regained use of her arms only days before, listened to speeches as her mother wiped her brow.

Classmate Karen Leigh Ferguson was awarded her diploma after 12 years of perfect attendance. She said she had planned to accomplish this feat since first grade.

"I remember telling Mom I wanted to," she said.

What was Ferguson's secret?

"If I was sick, I'd stay long enough to get counted for the day, and then leave," she said.

by CNB