By SHARON KILPATRICK

By SHARON KILPATRICK

Rappahannock N«wa Staff Writer

Commencement speaker Dennis Wingfield told Rappahannock’s 53 graduating seniors they will have a hard time convincing their grandchildren they had to struggle through snow drifts to g$t to school “from the student parking lot.”

He noted that the foreign exchange students had added a lot to the year for the seniors and told them “through your performance, you have earned the right to dress up in a cap and gown.” He advised the seniors to “take time to back off and smell the roses.”

, Superintendent David Gangeltold them they might be affected by the “new world political order,” but they would certainly be affected by the “new world economic order.”

Dr. Gangel said when he was growing up in Akron, Ohio, “every American rubber company was in Akron.” He recalled that many of his high school classmates had dropped out of school to go to work for the rubber plants. They could earn $14 per hour as dropouts, teenagers making $40,000 a year.

Now, he said, there are no rubber plants in Akron. They have moved in search of cheaper labor, and his former classmates who dropped out are lucky to find jobs making the minimum wage.

He said the seniors would have to choose whether to “add value” to the economic system through “cheap labor or high performance. High performance is not working harder; it’s working smarter.” He said most jobs in the future won’t require allege degrees, but they will require “continuous learning. Your prosperity depends on your frame of mind,” he added.

School Board Chairman Beverly Massie advised the seniors to “take part in life. Don’t sit on the sidelines. We all have something .to offer.”

Salutatorian Chris Stone noted that parents and teachers had helped the seniors to