Thurman, Lampe lead the class at Twin Rivers

This weekend Twin Rivers High School’s valedictorian and salutatorian will address their graduating class after delaying the ceremony by about a month.

The district elected to postpone its commencement ceremony due to COVID-19 until the graduates and families could be there together.

Valedictorian Isaac Thurman and Salutatorian Madison Lampe will present as part of the graduation program to be held at The Black River Coliseum at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Salutatorian Madison LampePhoto provided

Administration gave out 12 tickets per student to allow for social distancing on the floor. The top section will not require ticketing, but families will be socially distanced from each other.

Thurman said he’s worked four years to be valedictorian, and now, he’s able to see it pay off after earning a 4.0 grade-point average.

“It feels really great! I spent a lot of time, a lot of late nights these last four years working towards this, so to see it finally pay off feels amazing,” he said.

He plans to attend Three Rivers College in the fall to study either business or agricultural sciences.

Thurman said he’d like to get a job in agriculture.

Thurman played basketball and baseball during his time at Twin Rivers High School. He also was a member of BETA Club and Future Farmers of America.

Every subject is a little different, Thurman said, but he’s a visual learner.

“I enjoy a hands-on approach. I like to break things down into smaller steps,” he said.

Thurman said his advice for other students is to never believe they can’t do something.

“With hard work and some ambition you can accomplish more than you think,” he said. “Actually, academics doesn’t come as natural to me as many people would probably assume, but I overcame that by working harder than others.”

Lampe didn’t go into high school with the goal of earning the salutatorian title, but she did.

“It feels kind of surreal to be honest,” she said. “Starting freshman year, my goal wasn’t to become salutatorian, it was just to be a good student and get good grades.”

At the end of her junior year, Lampe found out she could become salutatorian and started working to maintain it. She earned a 10.97 grade-point average on a scale of 11.

“I was surprised, but ever since then, I’ve been working even harder to keep this title,” she said. “It’s been a pretty great achievement, not a lot of people expect me to get salutatorian.”

Lampe is taking summer classes through Three Rivers College. She plans to enroll in the licensed practical nursing program and bridge over to the registered nursing program.

During her time at Twin Rivers High School, Lampe played softball and basketball.

She also was a class officer, as well as part of student council, BETA Club, and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America.

Lampe said when she struggled with a topic, she wouldn’t hesitate to ask for help or look for alternative ways to study.

“There was a lot of things that I didn’t understand, so what I did to learn the concept is use educational videos, notes and books to study until I was confident in my ability,” she said. “I would sometimes stay up until 1 a.m., so I could study for a test the next day … It always paid off though.”

Her advice for other students is to never give up on themselves regardless of how hard things get.

“Because you can look back on life and be proud of yourself and the goals you achieved,” she said. “You can prove everyone who doubted you wrong and rise to the top.”