By Sean Bailey / Staff Writer

After Friday night, the Corbin High School class of 2009 will head into an uncertain world.

There will undoubtedly be the trials, tribulations and hard times that are a part of adult life for each of 2009’s 164 grads.

But as one of the class of 2009’s valedictorians, James Rossi, said, being part of the Redhound family makes facing those hard times less daunting.

“We are lucky because we come from Corbin. We’ve been prepared for all those hard times,” Rossi said during his valedictory address.

“Whether you head into the workforce, move into a dorm room or go into the military, whether you travel the world ... you have the opportunity to make that experience better than high school because you are from Corbin. And that means something.”

Rossi admitted to his classmates and all the family and friends gathered at the Arena at the David L. Williams Agricultural & Exposition Complex that he hadn’t thought too much of the future outside of just getting to college. But he was confident that he and his classmates could brave that journey into the future thanks to all the lessons learned at CHS.

“You know how to fight for what you want and to stand for what you believe in,” Rossi said. “And that’s something other students can’t say. So you are more prepared than you think.”

The class of 2009 is definitely prepared academicly.

Nearly 20 percent of the class of 2009 — 32 students — graduated with honors, something that Superintendent Ed McNeel said students in future classes will have to “strive to match.”

Among those 32 students, two students were National Merit Finalists. McNeel told the graduates and families in the expo center that more than a million students apply each year for the national scholarship, and over the entire country only 15,000 become finalists.

“And the Corbin class of 2009 have two,” McNeel said proudly.

Flipping through the pages of the program for the 92nd class to graduate from Corbin High School one can see future plans running the gamut from undecided to video game designer to nursing toto pre-law.

All three of 2009’s validectorians spoke about the support system of teachers, family, and community that allowed each student to not only walk up the stage and receive their diploma, but to also dream about the future.

Rufus Deron Higgins reminded his class that although “opportunity isn’t handed to you on a silver platter” and that each person must “go out and get what you desire for yourself”, it is easier to reach your goals with a strong support system.

“When you go to college, or the military or the work force, surround yourself with an excellent support group,” Higgins said. “Be around people that truly, truly care about you. That want you to succeed and want you to be happy.”

During his speech Brian Muffly echoed that sentiment.

“Graduates I want you take a moment to take a look around you,” Muffly said. “These are the people who have made you who you are. They cared so much that they gave up their Friday evening to brave the traffic and the crowd to show us how much they cared.”

Muffly called on his fellow students to find the people in each of their lives that made a difference — the people that allowed them to walk across the stage and into the future.

“I’m a firm believer in the proverb that it takes a village to raise a child,” Muffly said. “The people who are here and the others around you are the essence of who you are and who you will become...

“I want you to find your five people, your 10 people, your two people (who made a difference in your life) and I want you to tell them from the bottom of your heart, ‘Thank you.’”