Rolla High School graduated 313 students Friday during its  Commencement ceremony at the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose building.

According to Dr. Roger Berkbuegler, principal of RHS, 227 of those seniors are headed off to college.

Berkbuegler, who is retiring after serving as principal of Rolla High School for the last 28 years told the graduating students: “For you, and for me, life is about to change, forever. It is a privilege for me to share my last graduation as principal of RHS with the class of 2008.”

Dr. Jerry Giger, Superin-tendent, presented the 18 valedictorians and the three salutatorians.

Dr. Roger Berkbuegler presented the graduating class, and Jane Haskell, president of the Rolla School Board, presented the graduating students with their diplomas.
The class of 2008 had one student with a perfect ACT score, Yamini Krishnamurthy, daughter of Vandana and K. Krishnamurthy. Less than 20 out of 45,000 students in the state of Missouri achieve this accomplishment.

Five students were named National Merit commended students, one student was named a finalist, (Krishnamurthy) which put her in the top half of 1 percent in the nation, and she has been offered a National Merit Scholarship.
Eighteen students earned a $10,000 Bright Flight scholarship with an average score of 32.7 on the ACT.

$801,142 was given in scholarships and grants to the salutatorians and valedictorians this year.

This is the second class to have graduates of the RHS pre-engineering academy. Those students receive automatic admission to Missouri S&T and at least a $1,000 scholarship from the University.

“We send more students to MS&T than any other high school in the nation and as a result, MS&T has awarded approximately $2.65 million in scholarships to RHS students this year,” said Berkbuegler.

At the close of the graduation ceremony Berkbuegler asked Haskell to join him at the podium to present the students with their diplomas.

Then Berkbuegler offered a few last words of wisdom.

 “Seniors, as you left elementary school and worked your way to the high school, life became more about the choices you could make. Now as you are graduating, life is again presenting you with a huge amount of choices. As you march out of here tonight, and after the last diploma is given out, I hope you chose to take the time to talk to your classmates, give them one last hug, because tonight, and for the last time, you are, one class, together.”