VALEDICTORIAN A TRADITION IN GLEN ALLEN FAMILY; STUDENT JOINS HER MOTHER, GRANDMOTHER

Grandmother Lorene O. Long Burns, left; mother Beverly K. Cutsinger, center; and her daughter Julia Cutsinger all have more than just being family members in common. When senior Julia graduates Friday from Woodland High School, she will join her mother and grandmother as a high school valedictorian.

MARBLE HILL -- When Julia Cutsinger walks up to the podium to deliver the valedictory address at Woodland High School's graduation Friday night, she will be carrying on a family tradition.

As the Woodland senior with the highest grade-point average, 4.273 on a 4.0 scale, Julia was named valedictorian of the class of 2000. Her mother, Beverly K. Cutsinger of Glen Allen, was Woodland valedictorian in 1964, and her grandmother, Lorene O. Long Burns, who died in 1989, was valedictorian of the high school class of 1926 at Marble Hill's Will Mayfield College, which at the time housed a high school and college.

Julia said she is competitive enough that she would have strived to be valedictorian no matter what her family history, but that family background did give her an extra push.

"Mom didn't say I had to be valedictorian, but I wanted to live up to what she did," Julia said as she sat in a classroom at Woodland High School, where her mother was working as a substitute teacher.

"I knew Julia could do this, and I wanted her to, but it's her hard work that earned her the honor. This is her dream, not mine," said Beverly Cutsinger, who retired in February from Southeast Missouri State University as manager emerita of student receivables and is now a substitute teacher.

Still, Julia said she owes her accomplishments to the way her mom and dad, Walter Cutsinger, raised her. Beverly Cutsinger said she always emphasized education in her house.

"In fact, our house was often a gathering place for students who needed extra help," said Cutsinger, pointing out that she and Julia tutored students around the family's dining room table.

That emphasis on education, Cutsinger said, comes from her mother. Lorene Burns attended Southeast in the late 1920s when it was a teachers college and taught for many years in one- and two-room schools in Bollinger, Madison and Wayne counties.

Growing up, Cutsinger said, it was just herself and her mother, since Cutsinger was an only child and her father died when she was 3.

"She put her expectations out there, and I was supposed to meet them," Cutsinger said.

Cutsinger said she came to love learning.

"I was going through old annuals, and was shocked when I saw that our class motto was 'Education is light; keep the flame burning.' I hadn't read that in 30 years, and I still say the same thing," Cutsinger said.

Julia said the race for valedictorian has been a close one, and she barely edged out Dana Gillen and Melanie Willis. In fact, the competition between Julia and Dana began when both were in kindergarten and continued throughout their years in Woodland schools.

"We've been competitive, but we've always been friends," said Julia.

Julia is smart, but her mother said she isn't the type of student who never has to crack open a book to make As.

Julia has had to work for her grades and has earned top ones while participating in many activities, Cutsinger said.

Julia was on the Woodland volleyball team, which placed third at state this year and fourth last year, and basketball team; she participated in band, color guard and pep club; she is a member of Beta Club, student council and health advisory council; she represented Woodland at the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Conference and "Show Me" Team Spirit Leadership Training Conference; was class president her freshman and sophomore years; and was Junior Rotary Carnival Queen.

She did all that while working part time at Country Mart and staying active at Glen Allen United Methodist Church.

"If I had to say one thing Julia does best it's leading a balanced life," Cutsinger said. "She uses her time very wisely."

Cutsinger contrasted Julia with her twin brother Matthew, who played varsity basketball at Woodland. While he earned As and Bs, he didn't make the high honor roll all four years of high school as his sister did.

"If Matthew had a game, he would come home, get ready for the game, then go buzzing around town. Julia would get ready, and if she had 15 extra minutes she'd knock out five algebra problems. She's always working on something," Cutsinger said.

Julia said coordinating school activities with work and studies takes planning.

"I keep my black planner with me at all times," she said. "People kid me about it. In April I only had two days when there wasn't something going on."

Coming from a small town and small high school (her graduating class has 45 students), Julia gets a little nervous thinking about college. She plans on majoring in business management at Southeast Missouri State University, which has offered her a regents' scholarship.

"It's going to be a cultural change," she said, noting she will be going from a school situation where she knows everyone, many since kindergarten, to one in which she'll be surrounded by strangers.

Still, she is looking forward to the future, which she plans to address in her valedictory speech along with memories, friendships, teachers and family.

Might that future include a daughter who would also be valedictorian at Woodland? At first Julia dismisses such an idea since she plans to live in a larger town like Cape Girardeau. But then she gives it more thought.

"I'm a country girl, and I might have to come back here some day," she said.