Smart students

The signs that future generations will be in good hands are all around us. For several weeks, the Southeast Missourian has been featuring photos of and information about valedictorians from area schools. Reading about these bright students -- their dreams, their hopes -- reminds us in a positive way that our schools are turning out young men and women well-prepared to become tomorrow's leaders.

A sample: The four valedictorians featured on last week's NeXt page (published on Thursdays) have plans to become a teacher, a pharmacist, a nurse and a lawyer.

You can find all the valedictorians as they are added each week on the semissourian.com website. You can also check the website for hundreds of other outstanding students who have been listed on honor rolls at elementary, middle, junior high, senior high, parochial and private schools in this area.

It took six pages in the Southeast Missourian to list all of the honor roll students last Tuesday. It was an impressive display of the rewards accorded to students who study hard and take the best advantage of the educational opportunities they are given.

Hats off to all the valedictorians of the class of 2010. And a special salute to all those honor roll students.