BANGS – Skylar Hutchins earned valedictorian honors while Marina Nichols will represent Bangs High School’s Class of 2021 as its salutatorian.

Bangs’ graduation is slated for 8 p.m. Friday, May 28 at Memorial Stadium.

Hutchins, the daughter of Brent and Jennifer Hutchins, said of the valedictorian accolade, “I’m very proud to represent as valedictorian. Marina and I both worked hard and competed very hard all four years. It was actually really fun to have that competition going, someone pushing you to be better. I was surprised to be valedictorian, I knew we were really close, so it did surprise me.”

Of the salutatorian honor, Nichols, the daughter of Dr. Stephen Nichols and Kimi Nichols, said with a laugh, “It means I came in second so that’s a bit of a bummer, but I always knew I was going to get second just because Skylar and I are very different people. Skylar puts a lot of effort into her school work and making sure she gets 100s, and I absolutely respect that, but I could never. I would be absolutely exhausted. Instead of doing homework I went and got a job, and I think both are good ways to go, it just depends on who you are as a person.”

Hutchins is headed for Tarleton where she intends to major in bio-medical science.

“I want to become a dentist so after college I want to go off to medical school,” Hutchins said. “My uncle is actually a dentist in Brownwood. I’ve always been interested in it. I actually had a procedure done this last summer and was actually toothless for six months, I had to get an implant done. I just found it really interesting.”

Nichols is staying close to home and will attend Howard Payne.

“I’m going to double major with a bachelors of science in psychology, a bachelor of arts for honors, and then I’m getting a minor in creative writing,” Nichols said. “Because I’m taking dual credit through Cisco I’m entering as a sophomore so I’m going to go for three years, knock all that out, and then go to graduate school.”

Extracurriculars for Hutchins during high school included ag competitions in the spring and fall along with track, cross country, cheer, volleyball and basketball.

In the classroom, Hutchins said, “One of my favorite teachers was definitely Mrs. Prescott. I also enjoyed Mr. Stork in ag. Ag was probably one of my favorite subjects. I didn’t like math too much, but I liked the math teachers.”

Nichols took part in One-Act Play FCCLA, HOSA, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Persuasive Speaking, Congress, Robotics, and Spanish Olympics.

Reflecting on the classroom, Nichols, whose favorite subject was math, said, “ I want to give a huge shout out to Mrs. Harvey because she’s been my UIL coach for three years, and also a really big shout out to Mr. Reyes because he’s a new physics teacher and he’s done a really good job. I feel like I’ve learned a lot of psychics which I didn’t full expect.”

Looking 10 years down the road, Hutchins hopes, “of being a dentist. I want to graduate college in three years then go to med school for four years.”

Nichols said of her long-term goals, “The dream is to be a pediatric surgeon or a doctor of some sort that works in clinical studies. I’m choosing the career because it seems interesting and really enjoy helping people. I think it’s more about what you want to do than what you want to be. I want to help people and understand them better. The reasoning behind psychology is a lot of the time doctors and people in scientific professions forget the humanities and that’s very important.”

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BROWN COUNTY VALEDICTORIAN/SALUTATORIAN SCHEDULE

May 18 – Blanket, Brookesmith

May 19 – May, Zephyr

May 20 – Early, Bangs

May 21 – Brownwood