BROOKESMITH – The Brookesmith High School Class of 2022 will graduate at 7 p.m. Friday, May 27 at the Brookesmith gymnasium. Leading the way are valedictorian Savanna Hancock and salutatorian Tristen Slayton.
Hancock is the daughter of Matt and Kim Hancock and will be attending Angelo State University. Slayton, the son of Ray and Randi Slayton, will continue his education at Ranger College.
Regarding the valedictorian honor, Hancock said, “It means all the hard work of the past few years has finally paid off. I was kind of expecting it. I’ve been working toward it, comparing my GPA, just doing the best that I can.”
Slayton said of being named salutatorian, “I’ve been fighting for valedictorian and salutatorian with Savanna. We’ve known each other since kindergarten, and we’ve always competed together academic wise. I knew it could go either way, so I wasn’t surprised.”
Hancock is unsure which route she will pursue in college, but is leaning toward teaching.
“My major is currently undeclared but I’ll probably go with something math related, maybe end up being a teacher,” Hancock said. “Math has come naturally to me. It makes sense, it clicks. Teaching, my mom’s a teacher, I’ve had a bunch of family members that are teachers, so I’ve grown up around it. I’ve been a student aide for three years. I really enjoy helping people and I feel like teaching is some of the most help you can give people.”
Slayton intends to follow his mother’s career path and become a nurse.
“I plan on attending Ranger College and go to their nursing program and become a nurse,” Slayton said. “Then I plan to further my education in nursing and will try to become a CRNA. My mom has been a nurse for a while now and just growing up and seeing her help people has just fascinated me . It just struck my love for helping people out and I just want to help people like she does.”
Both Hancock and Slayton took part in a plethora of extracurricular activities while at Brookesmith.
Hancock said, “When I was in junior high I did pretty much everything. By the time I got to high school I was just managing things. I was statistician for boys and girls basketball and varsity football. This year I started taking on junior high stats for basketball as well. I helped out with track, I used to cheer my freshman and sophomore year, I did UIL and got to go to regionals this year and placed sixth in mathematics. I did One Act Play and we moved on to bi-district. I did yearbook, so I got to go to regional tennis and take pictures of that. I did pretty much everything I could.”
Slayton added, “I was in FFA, 4-H, showed animals in 4-H, and played football and basketball the two years I’ve been back. I did track last year and I’ve done UIL spelling. We went to regionals last year.”
As for what they will miss most about attending Brookesmith, their responses were similar.
“I’ll probably miss the community and all the people because it’s so close and tight knit here,” Hancock said. “I’ll miss football games, I loved football games, and coming to school and seeing the same faces every day – hanging out and knowing people so well since it’s such a small school.”
“I’m definitely going to miss the small town feel,” Slayton said. “We’re all really close, we’re all like family here. I’m going to miss that a lot. I started here my kindergarten year and went here until fourth grade and then I left. I went to Amarillo and then back down here where I went to Brownwood for a couple of years until my junior year. Then I came back here and they welcomed me back in like I never left. I’m definitely going to miss that family feel.”
The top two graduates also reflected on their favorite subjects and teachers.
“I enjoyed math and I loved Miss (Mitsy) Paz,” Hancock said. “She is the teacher I’m a student aide for. I had her in junior high in math. Coach (Chris) Moody is the one I’ve helped out with sports this year.”
Slayton said, “My favorite subject is science, but I haven’t had a science class with a Brookesmith teacher. I’ve done dual credit sciences since I’ve been here at Brookesmith. My favorite teacher here would have to be Mrs. (Jennifer) Barrow. She’s now our counselor but she was our dual credit teacher last year so she did all our dual credits.”
Looking down the road 10 to 15 years, Hancock said of her plans, “I don’t have a clue, not a clue. Maybe teaching, but there’s really no telling where I’ll end up, or if I’ll even be in Texas.”
Slayton, meanwhile, said, “I see myself being a CRNA and helping people and doing the best I can.”