ZEPHYR – The Zephyr High School graduation ceremony for the Class of 2024 will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, May 24 at the Zephyr ISD Gymnasium.

Bethany Blair, daughter of Kelsa and Brandy Blair, is the valedictorian while Cali McRee, daughter of Mitzi Lehman, is the salutatorian.

“Being valedictorian is important to me because I feel like it’s important to know my grades are not all from talent, they come from hard work as well,” Blair said of finishing at the top of her class. “A lot of time and stress went into making those grades.”

For McRee, she didn’t learn until earlier this month that she finished second in the class.

“At the beginning of the year I was sitting third and I started putting in more work and I had a lot of encouragement from my class and teachers to keep it up,” McRee said. “When we came back from Christmas break the counselor told me I was in a tie for second, down to every decimal point in our GPA. So I put in even more work and time to try and to get salutatorian and during our senior break our counselor called and told me I passed her. It was last minute, and I didn’t think I would be here, so it means a lot to me to show that the hard work and effort did pay off.”

Both students are heading to Howard Payne to continue their educations, with Blair pursuing a Bio-Medical Sciences degree.

“I recently became interested in medicine and anatomy,” Blair said. “I used to want to be an athletic trainer but after seeing the hours they put in and how much they travel I decided to shy away from that. I got to go a health workshop at Howard Payne and they showed me a lot of different fields. My younger brother has been to orthopedic surgeons along with some of my classmates, and I’ve seen how they’ve gone through different orthopedic surgeons and what’s expected of them. After that, I started looking into being an orthopedic surgeon, and in that I still want to continue being a sports orthopedic surgeon and being in the sports field.”

McRee intends to major in Elementary Education with plans to become a Pre-Kindergarten teacher in her future.

“I looked a lot of different fields trying to figure out what I would feel best in,” McRee said. “Being from a small school I’m around a lot of younger kids and have a lot of younger cousins and siblings. I’m always around younger kids and I feel really comfortable with them. So when teaching came up and I started looking into it, that was something I could see myself doing and enjoying. I would like to have an impact on kids like most of the teachers here have.”

As for the biggest changes they expect between Zephyr and HPU, McRee said, “The teachers and professors. Our teachers here definitely know how we learn and help us process. When we go to college they’re going to do it how they do it and they won’t be slowing down for us.”

Blair said, “I have not been good at studying and I’m sure my study habits are going to have to change a lot when I go to college.”

During their time at Zephyr, extracurriculars for Blair included cross country, volleyball, cheer, basketball, UIL, NHS FCCLA, and FCA. McRee took part in volleyball, basketball, NHS and FCCLA.

Reflecting on faculty who made the biggest impact on them during high school, McRee said, “Mrs. Marwitz. I’m her teacher’s aide and we’ve grown a really solid bond. She’s my favorite class, too, because I have her four times a day. Mrs. Kaufman is the secretary for the superintendent and she’s grown on all of us like a mother role model. She gives us advice when we need it and she sits and listens when we need to rant.”

For Blair, she said, “One of my favorites is Ms. Boland. I’m her teacher’s aide and she’s a science teacher, which is what my field will be, and I really like her.”

Looking 10 to 15 years into the future, Blair said, “Hopefully for me I’ll be an orthopedic surgeon, but the schooling is pretty extensive on that, and probably with a family.”

McRee added, “I see myself out of school, teaching, and with a family. I plan on, once I have kids, taking some time off so I can be there, and then start back up teaching when my kids are in school. I want to have that time with them.”