Hot Springs duo prepares for future

Matt Unrau

Valley Press

For as long as they can remember Riley Pavelich and Carter Farrier of Hot Springs have received all A’s.

Farrier in particular remembers his last B coming on a 2nd grade report card. At the time the grade made him cry.

The streak of A’s continued all the way through high school as the two became Valedictorian and Salutatorian respectively for the class of 2009.

The two actually tied with both having a 4.0 gpa, but the honor was decided on ACT scores which had Pavelich nudging Farrier for the top honor.

With here academic prowess Pavelich is hoping to become a journalist.

She has been accepted to several schools, but is currently waiting to hear from her top choice of Pamona University in Southern California.

“It seems like a fun profession,” says Pavelich who has written several articles for the local papers.

One of these articles includes a story about hanging flowers basket in Hot Spring Valley Bank.

The story that detailed the history of the Hot Springs landmark was good enough to land her story on the front page of the Ledger.

Carter on the other hand is in no hurry to hustle back to school.

He has a job with the Forest Service waiting for him and he will be spending time clearing trails and thinning forests.

He will be working at the Plains Ranger District.

However, he does plan to go back to school. One of his possibilities is The University of Montana where he was already accepted.

Wherever he goes he plans to work towards becoming a math teacher and coach. “I like helping people. I like math, and I like helping people understand math better,” says Farrier.

When describing his desire to become a coach, Farrier is definitely leaning towards football. “I just enjoy the game,” says Farrier.

This love of teaching also stems from his own leadership experience being the football team captain for the last two years.

He has also been student council President along with being the class president eight years running.

Each student gave a speech at the graduation on Sunday.

Farrier gave the Salutatorian address where he  compared his school experience to a machine thanking the community of Hot Springs and the school for acting as the work input by helping him.

Because of this work input he will be able to have success, which he compared to the work output of the machine.

“I will try my hardest, so that you work (in me) will not be wasted,” says Farrier.

In her Valedictorian address Pavelich talks about how in order to find success after graduation, all of her classmates need to learn perserverance through hardship.

And, upon accomplishing this when they find success it will taste all the more sweet because of going through the hardship.