WHS graduation takes place Friday

Wahkiakum High School's class of 2018 will graduate this Friday in a 7 p.m. ceremony at the school.

Morgan Bashore is the class's valedictorian.

The senior, who has a 3.97 GPA, will attend Lewis and Clark College in Portland next fall, where she plans to major in chemistry and minor in math and art. Or, if she can manage it, double major in math and chemistry.

"I'm interested in manufacturing formulation," Bashore said. "If finances allow, I could get a chemical engineering degree. I like making things and knowing how things work, on the inside, and on a very microscopic level."

Already with a clear knowledge of herself, and what drives her, Bashore is likely to continue to do well.

"I think I just like the idea of learning and growing," Bashore said. "I remind myself in everything I do to try to find some passion because to me that's the key in getting things done to the best they possibly can be: if you actually care. I know school isn't exactly that for a lot of people, but everybody has to have some kind of passion. If you genuinely follow the passion, you will have a heart behind what you do and it works from there."

"I try to find value or a silver lining in things," she added. "Even if it is a bad situation there is some kind of awareness you can get from it, either to appreciate things later on when they are better, or a lesson that can't be unlearned."

There was a lot to appreciate at Wa-Ki-Hi, but Bashore especially appreciated the challenges presented by teachers Ms. Petterson or Mr. Cox.

"They have a lot of work to them, but it just means I got to learn more and grow more from it," Bashore said. "It wasn't pointless work, they definitely had a structure and a plan, and a process that I was able to trust."

She also enjoyed Mr. Stetzer's pre-Calculus class and Ms. Garn's art classes.

"She cares a lot about art and her students," Bashore said of Garn. "She has allowed people to do what they want, but in a controlled way."

Bashore is a gifted artist. She likes portraiture, and though was hesitant to make the switch from pencil to pen, has become more comfortable with the new medium.

"I was too scared to commit to pen, but it would get so smudged and fade," she said. "I decided to do pen and it became my favorite thing. I started adding watercolor to it. It's become a pen and watercolor thing I enjoy."

Bashore has been active in leadership and several clubs. She joined 4-H Robotics this year, which has become a new favorite. She was also a member of the Key Club and the National Honor Society.

This summer she will work at the Columbia River Ranch. She is the daughter of Danelle and Roy Bashore.

Casey Wilson is salutatorian for the WHS class of 2018.

Wilson, who is graduating with a 3.82 GPA, will attend Boise State University in the fall to study construction management.

"My dad has a degree in construction management," Wilson said. "I thought it was interesting. There is a lot of activity. You're not sitting at a desk everyday. I couldn't do that. You are always out and about and always doing a job walk or checking in on a site. Never sitting still."

That's Wilson, never sitting still. If he's not in class, he's probably at practice. He's played three sports a year, football, basketball, and baseball. And one thing you notice about him, whether he is starting or not, he is contributing, by being a solid, fully committed, loyal team player. If the Mules have a backbone, it looks like him.

"Wilson is an Iron Mule for never missing a football practice or game in four years of high school football," his football coach Eric Hansen said. "The only 135 pound center in my coaching career whose heart played bigger than his body. A solid classroom student and citizen. He is an outstanding young man."

Wilson's favorite class is environmental science.

"We'd go outside everyday and go do fish surveys, or stream surveys, or the wood duck box," he said. "We're done with that now. We had quite a few wood ducks this year. We learned that if you monitor boxes earlier, you can get the starlings out and they won't mess with the nests and the wood ducks can come in."

Motivation to get good grades may have started at home, but somewhere along the way it became important to him as well. When pressed, he wondered why anyone would be motivated to do otherwise.

"I've really enjoyed having the same classmates, you get to know each other very well," he said of his years in Cathlamet. "You get to have a relationship with the teachers, and get to know them and understand their grading habits. It really helps your junior and senior years."

Along with athletics, Wilson has also been a member of the Key club. He has volunteered as an umpire for local youth baseball since middle school. A few years ago, he and another recent alum were the first to join the Lower Columbia Umpire Association and work as umpires at baseball games in Longview, Kelso, and Castle Rock.

"I'll definitely do that during the summer," he said. "Maybe over in Boise too."

For fun, the active young man likes to go jet skiing when it starts getting sunny. This winter in Boise, he might take up snowboarding.

Wilson is the son of Todd and Nicole Wilson.