Sunday, May 25, 2025
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Tigers’ Class of 2025 Celebrates Commencement
The Triton Central High School Class of 2025 collected their diplomas yesterday morning. Class President and Salutatorian Nicholas Riggins (top left) spoke, as did Valedictorian Tucker Hutchinson (lower left). Class Vice President Jayda McKee introduced the Chamber Choir, which performed Billy Joel’s “Vienna”. Principal Cary Chandler presented the class, and Mr. Jeff Wilson read the graduates’ names before Riggins led the tassel ceremony. | photos by ANNA TUNGATE
Local Commencements Feature Student Advice
Today’s graduation ceremonies often spotlight student voices, with top academic performers offering reflections to inspire their classmates. This weekend, Shelbyville High School and Triton Central High School continued that tradition. Here are excerpts from their standout speeches.
Shelbyville High School Valedictorian Emory Higgins
In all of this waiting and wishing for the next big thing, we can forget the reason we are here, because education is power: Power over our lives, our futures, and our minds. We are all going to go our separate ways after this, but just know that education is not only sitting in a classroom and listening to someone telling you things you are supposed to know; instead, education is found in every experience in our lives. And the ability to learn is the ability to succeed.
I want to briefly thank our teachers, who have all taught us something, even when it wasn’t quite what they set out to teach. While we all learned how to write an essay and to graph a line, over the last four years we have also learned how to learn, how to study, when to speak up for ourselves, and, some of us, when to be quiet.
While of course I would love to tell you all to take only the best opportunities and always give your all in each of your endeavors, and to never ever give up when things are hard, I know I cannot just stand up here and try to tell you all what to do. So, instead, I’m going to tell you the one thing I hope you all can take away from today: there is always someone who believes in you.
We often see ourselves trapped in a cycle, a routine, or simply something created by someone else that we feel we can’t escape. But as we move on to the rest of our lives, know that you define your life and your identity. The only way we can enact the changes we want to see is by doing something about it.
You don't need to be perfect, and you are allowed to fail. But giving up doesn’t create success…giving up hinders your potential. Facing challenges, while often difficult, allows you to overcome obstacles. And as you continue to do the hard thing, you further the education you have worked so hard to find, the education that has brought you here today and will carry you out those doors and into the real world.
Shelbyville High School Salutatorian Whitney Dellinger
As I sat down to reflect on everything I wanted to say, I kept coming back to a simple but powerful quote from someone whose words shaped many of our childhoods, Dr. Seuss: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” At first glance, it seems simple, just like any other rhyme you would find in a children’s book. But when you think about it, you realize how much truth is in those three short sentences.
Now, we stand at a crossroads, with our future unwritten before us. And what Dr. Seuss reminds us is this: We are the ones holding the pen. We have the brains - the knowledge, the skills, and the lessons we’ve learned along the way. We have the feet - the ability to move forward, to take action, to choose a path. And perhaps most importantly, we have the freedom to decide where we want to go.
The truth is, we don’t have to know all the answers right now. It’s okay not to have it all figured out. Life isn’t a race to the finish line, it’s a journey full of twists, turns, detours, and surprises. What matters is that we keep moving forward with purpose, with curiosity, and with kindness. That we stay true to who we are, even when it would be easier to blend in.
Triton Central High School Salutatorian Nicholas Riggins
Joshua 1:9 says, “Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be frightened and do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you may go.”
As we enter the next chapter of our lives, we must not face it with fear, but with an ambition and eagerness to accomplish great things.
Winston Churchill once said, Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.
Nothing good ever comes easy, and nothing easy is ever that good. How we respond to those challenges, that is what defines us as a person. Are you a quitter? Are you just going to lay down and give up when the going gets tough? Or are you going to persevere and push through to the other side?
Triton Central High School Valedictorian Tucker Hutchinson
God, thank you endlessly, from the bottom of all of our hearts for this blessing we call graduation.
Families of my peers, teachers and staff, we cannot express the gratitude we have for everything you’ve done for us.
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NOTEBOOK:
HOOSIER NEWS: A waiver has been signed at the federal level to remove soft drinks and candy from being eligible as part of Indiana’s SNAP program. According to a news release from the office of Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, Brooke Rollins, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, recently signed the state’s request to remove the two items from the state’s SNAP program. SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a federal aid program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that distributes food assistance to low and no-income people and families at the state level. (Fox59)
NATIONAL NEWS: Thursday was the final episode of “Around the Horn”, the ESPN gameshow-meets-debate-show program that has aired for the past 23 years. Over the course of 4,953 episodes, an ever-rotating group of sportswriters has debated the dominant issues of the day. The show became not just a magnifier of regional sportswriting talent but also an incubator for the most compelling and exciting voices in the industry. There have been 60 “Around the Horn” panelists, of whom 53 won at least one episode. The G.O.A.T. of the show was easily Woody Paige of the Denver Post, with 2,964 appearances and 688 wins across the program’s run, followed by Tim Cowlishaw (2113 appearances, 550 wins), Bill Plaschke (1,757 appearances and 427 wins) and Kevin Blackistone (1,607 appearances and 385 wins). (The Athletic/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights
April 10, 1931, Part II
Mr. Roy Ray’s shop classes prepared to build bird houses. “This is a sure sign of spring, and many boys are looking forward to the time when their smoke stand will be done so that they may get started on their bird house.”
Ernestine Cutter, 323 West Taylor St., was the hostess for the French Club’s meeting. Rosalind McKenney won a game prize - a bowl of goldfish. Ivan Warble won the guessing contest.
Rev. Doc Waddell, a “well-known circus publicity man, a circus evangelist and close friend of John D. DePrez,” addressed a school convocation on “religion as the key to success in all walks of life.” He also showed off artifacts. “An ebony cane presented him by show people was also displayed, that once had been used by a famous trainer and had a carved piece of the tusk of a ‘bad’ elephant.”
School officials hadn’t said much lately about “the dangers of kissing,” leading Courier staff to presume “the recent education campaign must have broken up the deadly habit.”
Staff and students planned to plant several Norway maples at local schools to celebrate Arbor Day.
“Canvas Cover Cuts Peeping Chances: With the advent of the steel fence and a canvas cover at the baseball park, it was thought that the old days of knothole peeping at baseball games in Shelbyville were over, but not so. When informed the other day that the cops and kids were taking advantage of the knot-holes in the Shelby fence, we politely told the person about our new fence and cover, but he proceeded to show us the fence in the Floyd & Griffey window marked S. H. S. baseball park. And sure enough there were a cop and two small boys, each with a baseball glove, thoroughly enjoying the game with one eye. But this afternoon the cops will have to abandon their usual dignity and become tree-sitters if they wish to view the game from the outside. However, if they still prefer the old days of knothole peeping, they will have to either join the ones in the Floyd & Griffey window or sit back and hope that the mice get into the canvas and gnaw a few holes in it. We advise anyone who is not acquainted with this tradition of the baseball game to view the Floyd & Griffey window. Why do you suppose the boys and the cop seem so interested? They must be watching a game between Shelbyville and Greensburg.”
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This Day in Shelby County History
News around Shelbyville and the surrounding area as reported on or about this date in history. Selections are curated by The Addison Times from Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department materials.
2005: Bill Hopkins was sworn in by Lee McNeely as the newest member of the Major Hospital Board of Directors.
With former SHS principal David Adams hired to succeed James Peck as district superintendent, Assistant Principal Tom Zobel was formally hired to become the new SHS principal.
1995: Loper Elementary students collected $625 for SCUFFY. Cassidy Ewick and Pam Yandl were in charge of counting the pennies raised.
1985: WRTV’s Howard Caldwell was in Shelbyville taping a segment of “Howard’s Indiana” profiling Mike Hauk, with emphasis on his recent entry in the wheelchair race of the ‘500’ mini marathon. Hauk was executive vice president of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce.
1975: The second annual tricycle race was held at Thomas A. Hendricks School. All second and third graders in the rooms of Mrs. Mignon Dismore, Mrs. Marjorie Nay, Mrs. Lucille Munier and Mrs. Susan Coers participated. Mrs. Dismore’s room was presented the trophy by Principal Rex Roth. The race was the inspiration of Mrs. Paulie Wertz, physical education instruction, who also served as official starter, chief mechanic and referee.
1965: The Addison Township School PTA held a promotion night program for sixth graders. Joyce Watkins, representing her classmates, presented a plaque to Principal Carter Bramwell that read “To the Best Principal Since 1960.” A similar plaque was given to Garth John, home room teacher, and Howard Ribble.
1955: Two Shelbyville taverns - Uptown Tavern and Kendall’s Tavern - were sued in federal court for copyright charges due to providing “musical entertainment other than jukebox music.”
1945: Sgt. Carlos Craven, whose wife lived at 301 E. Franklin St., was awarded a Bronze Star for his efforts fighting in a battle in Brittany, France.
1935: An Indianapolis man filed suit in Marion County court to stop the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from holding the Memorial Day race. The man lived a few doors down from a house at which Wilbur Brink, 11, had been killed during the 1931 race. A wheel which broke loose from Billy Arnold’s racecar after it had struck the retaining wall, had hurtled through the air and struck the child, who was off the racing plant’s property. The man said people living near the track wanted to have the race abolished. (Parents of the boy had sued the Speedway Corporation, and the case was to have been tried in Shelby County on a change of venue, but the family and the track reached a settlement beforehand.)
1925: A heavy frost and freezing temperatures caused considerable damage to the corn crop and local gardens. County Agent H.D. Jackson toured the county to assess the damage, which was expected to be heavy.
First Baptist Church held a memorial service for war veterans, recognizing veterans of the recent World War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. Few of the Civil War veterans were able to attend on account of the cold conditions.
1915: A Boy Scout troop was formed in Walkerville. Edgar Hodson was appointed Scoutmaster, and Cecil Cole was the assistant. The boys’ first event would be marching in the Decoration Day parade. They were expected to bring their full equipment, first aid kits, canteens and scout staffs.
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OBITUARIES
None today.
On the 1965 Addison Elementary School honors. You switched the name of teacher Garth John. He is still alive and lives in Greenfield, Indiana, by the way. He was later a principal at Major Elementary, and after its closure, moved to Greenfield, IN, to be an elementary principal and retired around 20 years ago. My late brother, Brent John, had this problem in the military; they filed his name under John Brent, lol. Garth's father, Ralph John, was a teacher and Principal in the Eastern Shelby County school system in the 1920s through the 50's. He was also a farmer. I attended Addison in the late 60's early 1970s and had Carter Bramwell as principal. He was a great and wide man. Also, JW Jenkins, mentioned a few days before, was his brother-in-law and a teacher there as well. RIP to them both. Garth is my 1st cousin once removed. Ralph was my g-uncle.