THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST

Southeast Missouri will be represented by some of the area's finest high school students at two of the nation's prestigious military academies next year. Tony Moore of Perryville and Casey Cook of Cape Girardeau will attend the Naval Academy, and Joe Clark of Cape Girardeau and Shawn Nickell of Sikeston will go to West Point.

Clearly, only the brightest and fittest students have an opportunity to be considered for such esteemed appointments. Over the course of the next four years they will each receive an education values at $260,000. As part of the commitment, they will each serve at least five years in the military after college.

Hundreds of students are graduating this spring, and many of them will receive high honors and significant scholarship offers. Congratulations to all of them. They demonstrate the best that today's education has to offer.