EARLY – The Early High School Class of 2022 will graduate at 8 p.m. Friday, May 20 at Longhorn Stadium, with valedictorian Sidney Becktold and salutatorian Cooper Neel leading the way.
Becktold is the daughter of Wayne and Toni McMillan and Duane and Augustine Becktold. Neel is the son of Michael and Crystal Neel. Both graduates are headed for the University of Texas.
Becktold said of the valedictorian honor, “For me being valedictorian really means a lot of trust with my teachers. I’ve taken a lot of advanced classes and because I take a lot of advanced classes it’s usually smaller numbers so I’ve been able to make more relationships with my teachers and that’s really helped me to excel in my classwork because I can trust them to get me through my next AP test or help me on an essay for college. It’s helped a lot to have those teachers that we can both rely on every day and to get to where we are.”
As for being named salutatorian, Neel said, “Being salutatorian just shows how hard we’ve worked and how far we’ve come. With all the kids in this school, we were able to make it out as the top 2. Seeing how much our work has now effected our lives and now going to college, being able to get into UT, not having to worry about where we’re going, it’s nice to see where we’re at and have a legacy at the school.”
Regarding the decision to attend the University of Texas, Neel said, “My dad went there, my sister’s there right now, I have some friends there. Really the culture there is one big family. What starts there changes the world. Everyone’s into everything and it makes it so nice. Being on the campus you just feel the energy and you just want to be a part of it. Why wouldn’t anyone want to be a part of it?”
Becktold added, “UT is a public school in Texas and being a valedictorian I’ll get two long semesters of free tuition, but I also I fall under Hazelwood Act Legacy which means all my tuition to UT-Austin will be paid for. I was trying to choose between A&M and UT-Austin because my mom just finished her master’s degree at A&M. I decided UT-Austin because I felt that the overall community and a lot of the programs there fit what I would like to go into and would allow me greater opportunities to explore.”
The duo feels their education at Early High School has more than prepared them for what challenges await at the college level.
“I feel like a lot of the stuff we do here at Early, especially the after school programs, and even the classes, it helps a lot with being in the real world,” Neel said.
Becktold added, “We were in Community Problem Solvers and you use a six-step problem solving process to solve issues in your community. Some of the projects we’ve done are renovating The Ark, helped a retirement home one year and then we did the memorial for Mr. Taylor. That has really helped, at least, to know how to organize community events, how to document both finances and general projects and papers, and how to basically use communication skills I’ve gained in other places like theatre and music in the community, and how to speak to adults.”
Reflecting on their time at Early, each student spoke of their favorite teachers.
“Coach (Roy) Jones is our Calculus teacher and my Computer Programming I and II teacher,” Becktold said. “He’s one of the most difficult teachers. I remember in Pre-Cal I had to start the test review two weeks ahead of time so I could actually pass it. He’s also been one of the most supportive teachers.
Becktold continued, “Miss (Caitlyn) Tidwell is my theatre teacher and has created one of the most positive environments that I’ve ever been in. In class she’s always checking in on us, making sure we’re OK along with all the other stuff we have to do for theatre, making sure we know proper ways to do a scene. She reminds us how each of us personally can effect everyone else, and how we need to stay positive to overall help the greater environment.”
Neel added, “Miss (Brittany) Dunlap, she really does it all. She does our FPS class, she does history, she did our technology class our freshman year and she runs the student council and helps with NHS. She does it all, I feel like she’s more of a friend than a teacher, you can go to her and talk about anything you want. She’s always there to help you, and that’s really big especially with the amount of work that we have to go through and the stresses with high school, having that teacher we can trust is really nice.
Neel continued, stating, “We have the PALS program where we go down to fourth, fifth and sixth grade and the special ed classes and hang out with them and teach them lessons about being a good person, and good character traits. Miss (Tish) Hullum and Miss (Kristin) Wade did an amazing job with the program and I feel an honored to be a part and given the opportunity to make an impact on the younger grades.”
Asked what they will miss most about Early High School, Becktold said, “I’ll probably miss the stability. In high school you have so many people to rely on. You have this group of friends you’ve known since at least fifth grade, some of them even since kindergarten. You have your parents behind you, you have all these teachers that you’ve known for a couple of years behind you and you’ve been going to your their classes each and every week day.”
Neel added, “I would definitely say the people. Being in a small town and a smaller high school you know everybody and everybody knows you. It makes doing things like this interview very easy. Being in FPS we were able to talk to city council and get in touch with everyone relatively easy. With college, it’s not going to be that easy. And everyone here is nice.”
Looking ahead to the future, Neel intends to major in some aspect of communications.
“I might do an emphasis on advertising but there’s also public relations and marketing and I’m kind of interested in that, so we’ll see,” Neel said. “I’ll be going into college as a sophomore so I’ll get an early start on internships, so while I don’t really know what I’m going to do yet, I just go with the flow, so who knows where I’ll end up. I’d like to start an internship with a company and work my way up from there.”
Becktold is still uncertain of which path she will take in college.
“I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to be doing yet,” Becktold said. “I have a few ideas, possibly going into the medical field, possibly engineering, but it’s all still a work in progress.
“I do know that I want to pursue either a doctors or masters. Something I would hope to do on the side, because I’ve done music for so long and in music we have an idea of passing on what you’ve learned, so as I side hobby I’d like to work with children who can’t afford music lessons or who don’t have a program at school and teach them how to sing, teach them piano, teach music theory. Those things are really good to know that a lot of time some schools can’t teach.”