'Keep shooting for the moon, because one day you'll reach the stars'

MONROEVILLE — "You're one hell of a class." Plain and simple, Monroeville High School senior Zeb Schafer said it will be a year to remember. "There are two ways you can get through pain," Schafer said Sunday afternoon to his fellow graduates at Monroeville High School. "You can let it destroy you, or you can use it as fuel to drive you: to dream bigger, to work harder." Schafer was speaking as class president and as the Principal's Award recipient. It was a tough year for everybody, but none more than Schafer, who lost his mother who passed away on June 8, 2020. "You've battled through COVID, the toughest obstacle this world could throw at you, and you not only pushed through it, but you thrived," he told his classmates. "We lost virtually everything from the end of our junior year until now. We lost sports and clubs to the lockdown, along with practically the entire end of junior year while having to motivate yourself to do online work. And, even until a week ago, we had to wear a mask all day and lost the connection with others that makes high school special. "But look at us, we're here, graduating in person, because we made it through the rain. You took what the world gave you and you ran with it. That sort of perseverance is a quality that will allow you to shoot for the moon and reach the stars, "If there is one thing that annoyed me the most over the past year it was the constant question of 'what about the pandemic was the hardest for you?' The reason that question bothers me so much is that it focuses so much on the struggle instead of perseverance shown by so many during the past year. "I don't want to just tell someone who I lost and why that was so hard on me. I want to tell them how I was able to grow from the pain and shape my future from that hardship." In short, Schafer told his classmates to keep moving forward. "Keep persevering, keep thriving, keep shooting for the moon, because one day you'll reach the stars." Daniel Smith gave the vocational scholar address. Smith spent the last three years at EHOVE Career Center and earned nearly 70 credentials of various types of electrical skills and common construction skills needed on any job site. "Even though being at EHOVE, I was very involved here at Monroeville, by being in sports and in the National Honor Society," Smith said. "I feel that going to EHOVE was the best choice for me because I was able to find what career path I wanted to follow. "I was able to make new friends and keep old ones, too, while learning the skills that are needed to have a successful job and life." Sunday's 90-minute ceremony included the presentation of dozens of scholarships, totaling $471,302. Of the 57 graduates 58.7 percent have enrolled in college, 39.7 percent are planning on entering the workforce and 3 percent have enlisted in the military. Of the students in the class of 2021, 3.2 percent will attend EHOVE Adult Career Center, 28.6 percent will attend a four-year public college in Ohio, 7.9 percent will attend a private college in Ohio, 20.6 will attend a two-year college in Ohio and 3.2 percent will attend a four-year public college out of state. There were 385 College Credit Plus credits earned which totals $72,765. The class motto is "Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory" — Dr. Seuss. The class flower is a white rose and the class colors and black and gold. The class officers are Zeb Schafer, president, Katelyn Elmlinger, vice president, Lydia Landoll, secretary, Grant Opper, treasurer, and Kitana Scheid, EHOVE representative. Graduating tops of the class as summa cum laude were the following: • Emily Kradlak. • Madison Lee. • Grant Opper. • Callie Rosser. • Lexy Schafer. • Zeb Schafer.