School’s out

SWOOPE — The message to Buffalo Gap High School students Friday night from Lt. Gen. John Corns was a simple, singular one: “Honor hard work.”

“Some of you may be thinking, ‘Is that all there is?’ ” said Corns. “We would answer confidently ... Yes.”

The retired three-star Army general and author of four novels — including “Through Buffalo Gap,” a story of struggle in early Augusta County — told the more than 150 graduates to work hard from the start instead of learning the “skill of getting by.”

“Be that person that looks back with burning hands and tired muscles,” he said.

It was a message that registered with graduates, if not physically, then in terms of the energy applied to the college search. Students agreed the quest for admittance and financial aid proved more challenging than expected.

But solutions and success they found.

Like honor graduate Priscilla Easterling, who will attend Berea College in Kentucky, where students work throughout their four years so they can leave without debt.

“The money, you can’t beat it,” she said, describing the annual $25,000 scholarship Berea can offer her because of work-study.

Easterling will only owe $200 each year, she said, allowing her to save for medical school.

While some graduates travel away, at least one plans to come back.

Valedictorian Rachel Morgan will travel to Liberty University to teach math, then follow in her father’s footsteps by becoming a Buffalo Gap teacher.

Others walking across the stage Friday, like Ian Rosenfled, who will play football at Shenandoah University, have already started college athletics workout routines. He joked about silly string and the senior class prank alongside Courtney Sanderson, who will play volleyball at Eastern Mennonite University with three fellow Gap players.

Their hard work has already begun, as Corns advised.

“I choose not to say ‘good luck,’ ” Corns concluded during his speech. “The best of your good luck will come from your own hard work.”