After possibly one of the most difficult school years ever, Thursday signified the beginning of the Poplar Bluff High School Class of 2021’s future. For two students, the event at the Black River Coliseum was all the more special as they were recognized for outstanding scholastic achievement.
Earning class salutatorian honors, Clarissa Varner has spent her senior year as a part of the tennis team and volunteering for the Red Cross, helping out with blood drives.
Her involvement in the Girl Scouts has been rewarding as this year she earned their highest honor, the Gold Award. Varner plans on working at Camp Latonka at Wappapello Lake, helping other Girl Scouts, and taking the senior trip to Panama City Beach with her classmates.
Her parents are Paul and Antonia Varner and she has one brother, Jonathan.
Varner is heading to the University of Missouri this fall, where she received the Bright Flight scholarship and a Chancellor’s Award scholarship.
“I’m going to be studying anthropology there and I’m excited to be going to Columbia and have that opportunity,” she said.
Varner has not missed a day of school during her high school career, which was even more difficult than one might imagine considering the difficulties of COVID and virtual classrooms. Graduation day will end the streak, but Varner can’t wait to walk down the aisle.
“Yes, I’m extremely excited. It’s definitely been a long four years, and we’ve already put in a lot of elbow grease and hard work, so I’m really glad that it’s all coming to an end,” she said. “Being recognized as salutatorian has really been meaningful to me, because I’ve worked very hard, and I’m glad to be recognized for that achievement.”
Class valedictorian Lauren Robertson will enter the University of Missouri - Kansas City in the accelerated six-year BA/MD program. It offers eight years of education in six years, culminating in both a bachelor’s degree and a medical degree.
Her father, Chuck Robertson, is a traveling physical therapist and Robertson credits him with igniting her interest in the field of medicine. Her mother, Patty Robinson, is the assistant superintendent of schools in Poplar Bluff. Robertson has two siblings, Lanie and Lucas, who are twins and are 16 years old.
Earning the title of valedictorian is an honor but Robertson credits her love for learning as the biggest reason she has achieved success in high school.
“I do genuinely enjoy school,” the 17-year-old said. “I enjoy education. That’s actually the reason I’m valedictorian. I did not intend to be valedictorian; I just really care about education. I really care about learning.”
Robertson cares so much about education she plans to take a chemistry course over the summer to help her be better prepared for medical school at UMKC.
UMKC doesn’t offer many merit-based scholarships, but Robertson has received multiple local scholarships, including the John T. Belcher Scholarship awarded by Future Builders, the education foundation of the Missouri School Board Association and another from the Elks Lodge Foundations.
She participated in the academic team, drama club, choir, math club and was heavily involved in dance at the Dance Studio of Poplar Bluff where she also works.
Besides taking a chemistry class, she plans on enjoying her summer before entering college.
“This will be a last little hang out with my friends before I have to leave, because Kansas City is pretty far away, and the program is so intensive so I won’t get to come home as often as I would like,” Robertson said. “This will be a way for me to have a good time with my friends before I have to move.”
And while deserving of the credit for her achievement, Robertson is quick to point out how deserving the Poplar Bluff High School Class of 2021 is as well.“If there is one thing I have learned in the past year, it’s that I am not the person in school who has worked the hardest,” she said. “I’ve definitely worked hard, but I’m not the one that worked the hardest. “I’ve seen so many people who had a relative that was at risk for COVID that they had to stay home and attend school virtually because it was a risk. I’ve seen people that have had to skip extracurricular activities because they had to babysit their younger siblings.
“I’ve seen students that have had to work to help support their families, so I don’t think you can quantify hard work.
“No matter what their rank or grades say they did in school, they worked hard, and they earned this accomplishment, and I am so proud of everyone walking across that stage.”