Congratulations to Bath County High School’s Class of 2012!

Hot Springs, VA – The Bath County High School Class of 2012 graduates Friday night June first. It’s an exciting time for the seniors, but also an exciting time for Principal Sarah Rowe. She is completing her first year as Principal at Bath County High School and also her first year in administration at the high school level.

“It’s been overwhelming this year,” says Rowe. “And I say overwhelming in a good way, because the kids have been great. I am looking forward to this being my first graduating class. It’s kind of bittersweet though. I didn’t get to know them as well as I would have liked to and didn’t have the time with them that I would have liked to. They’re a good group of kids and to watch them, even in the process of this year, maturing from the level that I saw them at in the beginning. They’ve really become wonderful young women and men. Of course anytime that I take on a building and a principalship or an assistant principalship, they become my children. So the emotional attachment to some of them is a little bit hard to see, but I’m very proud of them and look forward to what they’re going to do in the future.”

Rowe describes the Class of 2012 as trendsetters and a very dynamic group of students. She says they are a very diverse group, but when they need to, they come together as a whole beautifully.

“Our Valedictorian is Sage Tanguay,” says Rowe. “She is a phenomenal student. She is going to go to UVA next year and she is looking at a dual major in French and dance. If you’ve never met Sage, she truly marches to the beat of her own drummer. She does not care what other people think of how she is, she has her own tone. And I think that that’s the tone of the senior class, because my Valedictorian and my Salutatorian are so different, just in personality. Sage is, with Valedictorian, one of the highest accomplishing students. At the awards assembly she was given the award for highest SAT scores in almost all three categories. She also received a Glencarin scholarship for $6,000 per year for the next four years, for going into a liberal arts background that covers the areas that she’s looking at.”

Sarita Hough is the Salutatorian and she’s attending Randolph-Macon College next year.

“Sarita is also a unique individual,” says Rowe. “Sarita marches to the beat of her own drummer as well, but in a different tone. Sarita takes everything very seriously. Academics are a very serious thing for her. Sarita has been a very, very conscientious student. Even to the point at which when we tried to get her to focus on her salutatorian address she said, I have to get through my exams and my SOL’s first.’ So she prioritizes everything that she does.”

There are sixty nine students in the Class of 2012. It’s a large class, since the average size of a graduating class at Bath County High School is around fifty.

“It’s been a pleasure to be the administrator for this building this year,” says Rowe. “The community has embraced my coming here. They’ve been patient with me as I’ve learned by way through things. I appreciate people’s willingness to kind of see me through my growing pains.”

Forty seven percent of the Class of 2012 is going to four year colleges. Thirty four percent are going to community colleges, seven percent to career and technical schools, ten percent are going into the workforce and two percent are entering the military.