Joy Settlemoir-Benton:  

I doubt very much that most students who attended Valley during the same time that I did, will even know or remember who I was. For some reason, I have an amazing memory for people, names and faces. I actually have very fond memories of well over 100 of our class at Valley and various things that happened "back in the day". These memories include many very popular people who never even knew my name (I was an honors student and a basic "nerd"). Between honors english, helping Mr. Orgill compose a variety of songs for T.I.M.E to perform, and hanging with the thespians of Mr. A.; most people only knew me if they asked me to help them with their homework. The most fearful memory of high school was wearing those damn freshman beanies and pushing pennies up the ramp! Had I only I had known then that such a ridiculous thing would be such a minor experience in my life! The monumental mountains and the valleys deeper than my imagination would conceive, show that what we had to learn about life had yet to really begin. I think that the teachers from Valley that probably influenced me most were Carolyn Harker, English Lit. and Mr. Bellamy, Govt. Of all the teachers I knew, those two would be the ones that I would enjoy seeing again. I went to our 10 year reunion but I've missed any since then. I hope to be included in any future reunions that our class may plan. I look back in amazement at the thoughts and judgements I made as a high school student in the 70's. My best friend, Jeanne and I rode in her dilapidated VW bug to school, and could pass gas stations for 2 weeks or more on $5 of gas...but we had to put a quart of oil in it every other day! What a crazy time that was. Then their was ceramics class, senior year. I needed a no brainer elective. Over half of the class were modeling bongs until they found out the teacher refused to fire them in the kiln! Oh yeah, and senior trip! Wow! Having never been a partier, I thought my gosh, almost 18 years old and how uncool to have never gotten drunk or stoned? So our little group decided to take close to a dozen large navel oranges in our carry-on that we had injected with vodka before leaving Vegas! Who knew that the ones we didn't eat on the bus, would slowly be eaten from the inside out by the alcohol and start breaking down? Ms. Neely, the advisor on our bus, kept asking why she could smell what she thought was alcoholic drinks? We relieved her fears by showing we only had fresh oranges and some beef jerky in our bag. Just before we got to Cal. she asked if she could have an orange, she was kind of shaky and could use some vitamin c and fluid. I reached into the bag slowly and as I took out an orange, it began to seep juice and vodka all over my hand. OMG I knew we were all dead! Looking into the cooler bag that the oranges had been in, there was a wet, sticky, pile of mush as they were all becoming a mass of pulverized screwdrivers! I must admit, she had a good sense of humor, she kept the orange I had pulled out and actually ate it out of a bag! Then she just told us to dump the rest in the trash when we got to our stop and wash out the bag. I knew my share of stoners and drinkers in school, but no real temptations or experiences were in my world until I attended UNLV. What a culture shock when my grade school kids knew people in 4th grade and up who not only knew about...Expand for more