Surrey seniors attend same school for 13 years before graduating
By ANDREA JOHNSON, Staff Writer, ajohnson@minotdailynews.com
POSTED: May 10, 2008
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But, even though all other chairs in the office were occupied, senior Kelsey Adams just couldn’t bring herself to sit in Gerding’s chair at first.
“It feels weird,” she said. Finally she sat gingerly in the office chair, but moved it out from behind Gerding’s desk. Even with 19 days left of her senior year, Adams isn’t quite beyond her high school years yet.
She tells friends she won’t get too emotional on that last day, but “when that day comes, I know I’ll be crying,” she said. Adams and classmate Sam Kauffman have attended the same school for 13 years and have seen the same faces day after day.
Kauffman said he runs into Minot High School seniors who have just met someone in their large class for the very first time and he can’t quite imagine what that would be like. Kauffman knows every face in his school, teachers and fellow students.
Adams won’t be going far in the fall; she plans to attend Minot State University and enroll in its nursing program. She’ll be living at home. Her mom isn’t quite ready to see her move out yet, she said. Adams plans to become a nurse “because I’ve always liked sciency stuff” and because she grew up hearing about the nursing profession from her mom. Eventually Adams wants to go on to medical school and become a doctor, but her mother advised that she get the nursing degree first so she’ll have something to fall back on.
Kauffman has spent two years on a robotics team, which is one of the inspirations for his future career.
He’s taught himself everything he knows about robotic by working as the programmer for the Northern Lights robotics team. He’s also been active in the school’s band and chorus and has taken private music lessons since he was child. He plans to major in both computer science and music at Hesston College, a Mennonite college in Hesston, Kan. He toured the campus and loved it. Kauffman said he chose his unusual combination of majors because, though he’d love to be a composer, he knows most people don’t make a living as composers. People in the computer science field, however, will always be able to find jobs.
Students had posted a countdown to graduation poster in the hallway at the school and the seniors were still busy planning for graduation. Adams said her mom was cleaning in preparation for her graduation open house. Kauffman had yet to send out his graduation announcements.
“There’s still time,” said Adams. Kauffman didn’t look too concerned.
